LAW FOR CHANGE STUDENT COMPETITION 2019
SUSTAINABILITY
IN JUST SOCIETIES, LAW WORKS FOR ALL
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I SUSTAINABILITY
STUDENT COMPETITION
II 1 FOREWORD ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
2019 was a challenging year for Hong Kong. The context THEME PILnet extends its deepest appreciation to the WYNG Foundation for making the Law for Change Student of “rule of law” has been a topic of debate, with those “Community” is currently the multi-year, overarching Competition possible through its generous support. in Hong Kong, especially the younger generation, theme for the Law for Change Student Competition. becoming less optimistic about the future of Hong Community can be viewed in a physical sense: as a Special thanks to the judges, legal mentors, advisory board members, and venue supporting partners. Kong. These challenges have elicited reflections on the setting that unites people with certain commonalities role law plays in practical terms for society and the and shared identities. It can also be viewed as a JUDGES importance of access to justice in Hong Kong. While the concept: a way to bring individuals together, to Davis Bookhart terms “rule of law” and “access to justice” are now part empower them to collaborate and cooperate in daily Azan Marwah of the vernacular, how Hong Kong society collectively life and in pursuit of betterment beyond one’s self, Moses Mui improves and strengthens the use of law as one of the and to promote not just a sense of belonging but also Ada Yip tools for social change continues to be a subject for inclusion and diversity. The theme serves as a reminder exploration. of our connectedness to each other, to our peers and neighbors, and to other fellow Hongkongers. The Law for Change Student Competition, established LEGAL MENTORS Barristers: by PILnet with the support of the WYNG Foundation For 2019, the focus within “Community” is Alan Leong Kah-kit, S.C. in 2017, is designed to expand students’ imaginations “Sustainability”. The challenge in the competition Cordelia Yeung about law and the role it plays in Hong Kong society. is to use the law to build a sustainable community. Wesley Wong Participants must apply the knowledge they learned in Communities are dynamic: existing ones evolve and the classroom to issues seen on the street and consider new ones take form. A community strengthens and Individual Lawyers: creative approaches to enhance the impact of non- grows not merely because its members can co-exist, Danny Kan governmental organizations (NGOs) and, in turn, to but because they work together to build a community Christine Wong amplify access to justice. that is sustainable. Law Firms: The competition is intended to stimulate interest The students are encouraged to contemplate in their in public interest law and to create opportunities own way what constitutes a sustainable community. Jonathan Chang, Robyn Crowter, Kate Chan, Caroline Wang for implementing sustainable initiatives to address The students’ projects must demonstrate how the law legal needs in Hong Kong. Projects developed in the can be used as a tool to build a sustainable community Spencer Park, Mack Wan, Leo Li, Nicole Yeung competition will complement the programs of local and ensure that the project itself is sustainable over NGOs that provide direct services to low-income time. Madhu Krishnan, Tracy Lee, Emilie Soust, May Ting Poon, Kelvin Ho, Joanna Ku and vulnerable communities by using legal tools and expertise in an innovative way. Tiffany Yan, Donnelly Chan, Lawrence Li, Florence Sit PRIZE This publication is a collection of the project proposals Maggie Cheung, Sandy Zhang submitted by the seven finalist teams. The proposals The winning team and two runner-up teams will be selected by a panel of four judges and will each receive are the sole work of the teams and are published by Denis Brock, Alvin Sin, Aditya Kurian, Valerie Tsui, Dave Chan, Jeremiah Lau PILnet in their unedited form with permission. seed grants of HK$50,000 and HK$25,000, respectively, to implement their projects. These teams are expected Malcolm Kemp, Yeeling Wan, Pel Lee, Minnie Wong to implement their project within six to twelve months immediately following the end of the competition.
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS Stephenson Chow Luke Marsh Lindsay Ernst Keith Wong PILnet Teresa Ma January 2020
VENUE SUPPORTING PARTNERS
2 3 PILnet is excited to present the panel of judges for the 2019 Law for Change Student JUDGING Competition and is appreciative of the time they have dedicated to empower the PANEL next generation of lawyers. The panel of judges is comprised of experts on the rule of law, social justice, innovation, and sustainability issues in Hong Kong.
Davis Bookhart Azan Marwah Moses Mui AdaProf YipRaees Baig
Davis Bookhart is an Adjunct Assistant Azan Marwah is a barrister in private Moses Mui is a registered social worker AdaProf YipRaees is the Baig CEO is anof Urbanassistant Spring, professor a Professor of the Division of Environment and practice. His work covers a broad spectrum who has spent over 20 years in the social purpose-drivenin the department start-up of social with work a mission at The Sustainability, and Head of the Sustainability of civil litigation and disputes, specializing welfare sector. He is currently the Chief toChinese reduce University the consumption of Hong of Kong. single- Her Unit in the Hong Kong University of Science in matters that include a cross-border, Officer (Family and Community) of the useresearch plastic interests in Hong include Kong by social building policy, a and Technology (HKUST). He teaches public or administrative law element. His Hong Kong Council of Social Service, mainly watercivil society refill network. and political Ada participationis also a trustee as classes on sustainability management and experience extends to work raising issues responsible for the service development ofwell WYNG as human Foundation rights and equality.a director She of sustainability thinking, both of which train from international sale of goods, cross- in family and community services. During WYNG43was previously Social anInvestment. honourary Previously, lecturer at aspiring students in the skills and mental border fraud, taxation, employment, to his earlier years as a frontline social sheUniversity was the of Program Hong Kong. Director of the i2i framework necessary for solving complex land use planning. Azan is also a qualified worker, Moses has worked in various (incubation to investment) programme problems in the 21st century. He serves mediator and published expert in family agencies involving different professional atProf SOW Baig Asia, has abeen Hong working Kong-based for various impact as Secretariat for the HKUST Sustainable and child law, advising a number of areas including suicide prevention, family investorlocal and and international accelerator. human Before rights focusing Smart Campus as a Living Lab initiative, is charitable organizations and representing counselling, and community development. moreorganizations on impact including driven initiatives, the Hong Ada Kong the Chair of the Task Force on Sustainability parties before the family courts. Azan Moses is also the Honorary Secretary of workedHuman atRights a number Monitor of financial and The institutionsHong Progress within the Hong Kong Sustainable is regularly engaged to draft several Consortium of Institutes on Family in the inKong Toronto, Council Hong of Social Kong, Service. and Tokyo. She Ada was Campus Consortium, and was appointed Private Members’ Bills. He has advised Asia Region (CIFA), a member of Hong isalso also a Senioron the Minorityboard of theFellow Hong under Kong the to the Environment and Sustainability on amendments to legislation in a wide Kong Advisory Council on AIDS (ACA), a InstituteUN Office of of Social High Impact Commissioner Analysts, for Teach Committee for the Hong Kong General variety of areas including regulatory, panel member of Human Organ Transplant ForHuman Hong Rights Kong, in and 2013. Education She is currently For Good. Chamber of Commerce. He also serves as an environmental, criminal, child protection Board and a SC.Net member of Community Shethe vice-chairpersonis part of the assessment of HER Fund, panel of the advisory council member of the Association and family law. He regularly advises Investment & Inclusion Fund. Enhancinga registered Self-Reliance charity that Through promotes District for the Advancement of Sustainability in commercial in-house counsel, charitable Partnershipwomen’s rights Programme and gender under equality. the Home Higher Education, a leading organization and non-profit organisations on the Affairs Department and the Enhancing of global sustainability transformation. legislative process. Azan is the co-founder Employment of People with Disabilities Formerly Davis was the Founding Director of the Hong Kong Public Interest Law through Small Enterprise Project under the of the Sustainability Office at Johns Hopkins Group and the Hong Kong Public Interest Social Welfare Department. University. He also founded Charm21 (Clean Law Conference, and the founding legal and Healthy Air through Renewables in adviser to Hong Kong Marriage Equality. Maryland), a non-profit group advocating the use of renewable fuels in the Baltimore region. 4 5
2019 1 LAW FOR CHANGE STUDENTS’ STUDENT
PROPOSALS COMPETITION 2019 2 PAGE TEAM PROJECT TITLES TEAM PROJECT TITLE
7 Team 1 Renew the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Renew the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Eco-Responsibility – Save the Food, 1 3 Team 2 18 Banish Hunger MEMBERS 1 25 Team 3 Regendering Gender and Sexuality LEUNG Yee Lam 2 YEUNG Jun Tao 4 34 Team 4 Be EnGayged SCHOOL 1 4 8 Team 5 ASsist – Empowerment through Exchange The Chinese University of Hong Kong 2 The University of Hong Kong 5 57 Team 6 Stakeholder
68 Team 7 Access to Justice Fellowship
6
7
6 7 BRIEF BACKGROUND
General Energy Mix of Hong Kong Social Justice Issue: Other legal issues and potential liability The government’s overview on legal issues by Lack of Access to Legal Resources All applicants may have to handle or encounter: the Guidance Notes for Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Currently, renewable energy (RE) only accounts for System Installation is too brief 11 around 1% of the total amount of electricity generated Most private sector participants of the FiT scheme 1. Electricity Ordinance (Cap. 406) A Working Group, consisting of different government in Hong Kong, whilst about 75% is generated from coal choose to install solar photovoltaic panels (PV panels) in Applicants have to comply with the requirements departments, including Environment Bureau, Electrical and natural gas. According to Hong Kong’s Climate their buildings. However, potential applicants are faced relating to electricity safety, such as employing a and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD), Lands Action Plan 2030+, it is targeted that, Hong Kong will with extremely complex legal issues surrounding the registered electric worker to carry the electric work. Department, etc, wrote the Guidance Notes for Solar already have increased the proportion of electricity installation process. In such situations, there is often Photovoltaic (PV) System Installation (the Guidance 2 generation by wind, solar and waste-to energy (WTE) to lack of transparency and access to legal resources to 2. The Code of Practice for Fire Safety in Buildings 2011 Notes). The Guidance Notes are open to public and 1 3 - 4% before 2030. help them get around the legal issues of installation. Applicants are recommended to comply with the provide useful guidelines in issues related to solar PV Participants who install a PV panel on their buildings requirements relating to fire safety. system installations and the FiT application procedures. with the good faith of promoting the RE development However, the Guidance only gives a brief overview on Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) in Hong Kong may fall into the legal traps. 3. Business Registration Ordinance (Cap. 310); Inland related legal issues. Wider issues, including potential Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112) tortious liability and installation contracts, are not covered. 3 To promote RE development, the Hong Kong Legal requirements for installation Applicants are required to apply for business Government introduced the Feed-in Tariff Scheme (FiT) Applicants of FiT have to deal with different pieces of registration and report FiT payments in their tax in 2018. Under the scheme, private sectors, including legislation and subsidiary legislation. returns in accordance with the Ordinances. households and private enterprises, are encouraged Hotlines of two power companies only provide technological support to install a RE system in their buildings. The power Owners of village houses 4. Potential Tortious Liability generated by the system can be sold back to the power There are specific regulations about New Territories According to practical experience from the The EMSD, and the two power companies also run their 4 companies at a rate higher than the normal electricity Exempted House (NTEH). Firstly, they are exempted operation of solar PV systems overseas, the solar hotlines, answering basic inquiries from the general 2 tariff rate. It is hoped that FiT can act as a financial from certain provisions of the Buildings Ordinance panel user may incur tortious liability . For example, public regarding PV installation. However, the hotline incentive for the private sectors to invest in RE and in (Cap. 123) and its subsidiary regulations, including the glaring from sunlight reflected from solar PV panel mainly focuses on technological factors. Legal issues are turn increase the percentage of RE in the Hong Kong’s need for obtaining prior approval for and consent can cause both personal injury and damage to a not dealt with in these hotlines. energy mix. to the commencement of works from the Buildings neighbouring property. Department. Secondly, there are specific fire safety 5 recommendations. For example, if one of the sides of 5. Potential Contractual Liability NGOs fail to provide support to individuals and the building faces well-defined Emergency Vehicular Contract law issues may also arise. Some building on legal perspective Access (EVA), at least one side of the roof should be free owners may choose to contract with PV panel There are certain existing services related to the from PV installations. Provision of a draw powder type contractors on a condition that contractors will installation of solar PV panels in Hong Kong by NGOs. extinguisher is highly recommended. cover installation expenses in exchange for a Greenpeace, WWF-HK, and Hong Kong Baptist certain share of the income derived from the sale of University collaborate to develop the website, Hong 6 electricity back to the two power companies. The Owners of residential, industrial, commercial multi- Kong Solar Map. Through the map, users can click the contract may be very complicated and each term storey buildings building on which they plan for PV installation. Then, must be analysed carefully. Most buildings in Hong Kong are multi-storey buildings, the technological information regarding the building with Owners’ Corporation, and accordingly would be will be provided, including the number of panels that Unfortunately, none of the schemes of NGOs, the subject to a Deed of Mutual Covenant (DMC). Any can be installed in their buildings and the amount of government, or two power companies specifically 7 installation of solar PV panels must abide by the DMC, electricity that can be generated post-installation. provide assistance relating to the above legal issues. which regulates the rights and duties of a multiplicity of owners among themselves. Owners also have to Another NGO, CarbonCare InnoLab, is currently running pay attention to the requirements in the Buildings a programme named Jockey Club Solarcare Programme, Ordinance (Cap. 123). Usually, owners have to appoint Existing Services Gap which invites NGOs to install PV panels on their an authorized person to submit building plans to the premises. Asian Energy Studies Centre and Hong Kong Buildings Department and obtain prior approval before The current resources and assistance regarding FiT Solar Partnership jointly hold community deliberative the commencement of the work. scheme are mainly provided by the government, the workshops in inviting residents to discuss their views on two power companies, and other NGOs. They only focus building a solar power community. Applicants of PV panel installations in idle land on technological problems, e.g. solar panel models Such applicants have to pay specific attention to or sizes that are accepted etc., while seldom tackling From the above, it can be concluded that the existing relevant requirements in the Buildings Ordinance and the above complicated legislation and potential legal services mainly focus on providing technological the land use condition. liabilities. assistance and advice on PV installation.
8 Renew the FiT 9 APPLICATION OF LAW
This proposal aims to resolve the above gap through the operation under the FiT. Participants of our proposal are 2. Seek assistance from other stakeholders multi-choice questions include: State one problem provision of accessible legal assistance and information expected to gain a legal-based general picture on PV In our proposal, we seek help from different that a PV panel can cause to neighbours; What do we have to pay attention to when we sign a that relevant stakeholders can understand easily, and panel installation. stakeholders of this initiative. We hope to obtain 11 increase the overall transparency of installation and some assistance from pro bono lawyers to ensure the contract with a contractor on PV installation? materials of both the workshops and the website are Finally, frequently asked questions (FAQs) section is factually legally accurate. We invite NGOs to give us the also included. Questions which are frequently asked Relevant Stakeholders details of the current FiT and advise on the proposal and by users will be included in the section. the content of the workshops and website. To maintain b) Filter Organisers Guests Participants the sustainability of the project, we would aim to obtain 2 more funding for the scheme from the Environment Through the filter, users have to answer questions Volunteers and Student Helpers: Pro bono lawyers and legal Current FiT participants: and Conservation Fund under Environmental Campaign regarding the specific features of the buildings they They will help us run the whole academics: Although they already have a PV Committee, if necessary. plan for PV panel installations. Questions include: programme and are responsible They help review the materials to panel in their buildings, they may 1. What kind of building are you living in? A small for various tasks, such as inviting ensure the correctness and host the still lack the requisite knowledge 3. Establish a committee to run the whole village house, or a multi-storey building? guest speakers for workshops workshops. regarding the potential legal issues. programme 2. Whether your building is next to a main road/village and running the website. 3 Student volunteers will be responsible for running passageway? Successful applicants of FiT: Potential FiT participants: the programme, including the website and workshop. 3. Whether your building is very close to other NGOs: They have personal experience in They decide to join FiT but they may The student volunteers will be recruited from all the buildings? They provide networking and dealing with legal issues arising in lack the requisite legal knowledge universities and colleges in Hong Kong. They will run the 4. Whether you would contract out the PV panel venue support, and help us PV installations. They are invited to about the scheme and the legal website and workshop in a manner similar to a student installation? review the materials of website share such experiences. issues arising in PV installation. organisation. They will be working as a committee for 4 and workshop. (*They may also be current FiT one year. Each of them will take on a specific position in After they answer all the questions, the filter will participants, but they have better the committee with corresponding responsibilities and provide a brief analysis on the potential legal District Councillors: legal knowledge and experience.) duties. At the end of a year, they will have a promotion issues which users may encounter. Users will find a They provide networking for the recruitment of new members from different checklist on what legal issues they may encounter. support. universities and colleges. For the first year, we will For example, if someone lives in a private residential provide the training course for the student volunteers building which is close to another residential 5 to ensure they are well-equipped with the knowledge of building, apart from complying with Buildings FiT. In the later years, the past student volunteers will be Ordinance, the Code of Practice for Fire Safety in responsible for the training for the new committee. Buildings 2011 and Electricity Ordinance, he or she Project Description Strategy may have to ensure that the installation of PV panel 1. Start small, expand gradually can comply with the DMC and get the consent of The project has two main components: The Workshop and Consultation Pilot Scheme will Components other owners. Tortious liability is possible because 6 1. An innovative website first be conducted in Sai Kung district, because this glaring from sunlight reflected from solar PV panel 2. Workshop and Consultation Pilot Scheme area has a higher concentration of village houses (no may cause both personal injury and damage to the DMC issue), and hence would have higher propensity 1. Website neighbouring building. Goals to participate in the FiT scheme. The advantages of CONTENT OF WEBSITE having a focused pilot scheme in a smaller district is To promote public awareness of legal issues arising a) Knowledge package c) Case studies that, we can try to run the scheme and find out the 7 from RE development in Hong Kong It gives a brief overview on the legal issues arising We would invite successful FiT applicants or legal difficulties and infeasible aspects in a more controlled from installation of PV panels. It also lists out experts of FiT to share their experiences in dealing environment, which would enable us to rectify the with the legal issues. Successful applicants are also Objectives statutory requirements, including the Buildings situation easily. Once we succeed on a small scale, Ordinance, the Electricity Ordinance, the Business encouraged to share their stories to us via email. • To provide the public with easier access to legal we would have accumulated the requisite skills and Registration Ordinance, and other legal issues, such Before posting their stories publicly, we will verify knowledge regarding FiT and explain the relevant experience to handle the arrangements and workshops as potential tortious liabilities, contractual liability them first in order to ensure that the stories are issues in an easily understandable manner. on larger scale across more districts. It is also expected and Deed of Mutual Covenant issues. Procedures genuine. • To fill in the legal issue loopholes among the that we can have a more thorough evaluation from the of application for FiT will be shown in a flow chart existing services in relation to FiT. participants, which helps us pinpoint specific opinions or similar style. A short quiz is provided to ensure • To prevent participants with the good faith of and points to improve on. readers’ understanding of the legal issues. Possible promoting RE development from falling into legal traps.
10 Renew the FiT 11 APPLICATION OF LAW
d) Video tutorial CONTENT OF THE WORKSHOP Resources Requirements Content of the tutorials would include a step-by- The content of the workshop depends on the situations Personnel Other materials step process of filling in application forms to power of the participants. Before the workshop, we will 11 companies, studying and identifying particular conduct a simple survey to ask the participants about Pro bono lawyers, other legal practitioners, and legal academics Website terms of contracts with PV panel contractors, what specific content they want to cover in the • Their expertise includes energy law, contract law, tort law, and land law and a discussion of the effects of Deed of Mutual workshops. Participants can explain their situations • Help us review materials of website and workshop Covenant on PV panel installations, etc. of PV panel installations, the legal issues they foresee, their expectations of the workshops. We then adjust Successful applicants of FiT e) Contact the content of the workshop accordingly to satisfy • Share their experience in dealing with legal issues on PV installations 2 Through our website, users who are interested in their needs. For example, if most participants are applying for FiT can contact us directly for further village house owners, our workshop may focus Students volunteers Workshop enquiries and joining workshops and consultations. more on specific requirements for NTEH. We would • Design legal materials • Refreshments provide individual consultation upon request. In the • Design website • Stationery f) Disclaimers consultation, we can discuss the legal issues in greater • For miscellaneous, including running workshops, inviting successful FiT • Reference materials We would include some disclaimers to exclude our detail. applicants 3 legal liabilities and suggest that users should seek NGO and District Councillors Other Logistics (if needed) help from the professionals if they need specific and Before the workshops, participants will be asked • Provide networking and venue support • Renting venues for workshops detailed advice. to complete a questionnaire regarding the legal • Visualizer issues. After the workshops, they will complete • Microphone and amplifier PROMOTION OF THE WEBSITE the questionnaire again to see if they can acquire We aim to promote the website through social media more legal knowledge. They will be asked to fill in 4 sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Target audience questionnaires regarding the quality of workshops and of the website are not confined. their confidence in handling the legal issues after the workshops. Potential Project Partners NGOs INTENDED OUTCOME 350 Hong Kong - the organisation previously, together Users acquire basic legal knowledge and increase the PROMOTION OF WORKSHOP AND CONSULTATION with other NGOs, issued a statement on FiT. The awareness of FiT through the website. Also, through We promote the workshop through social media such District Councillors organisation is an advocate on RE development in Hong 5 the website, users feel more interested in joining our as Facebook and Instagram. The website will also As the focus of our pilot scheme is Sai Kung District. Kong. Their manager Ringo Mak shared their views and workshop and consultation to look for more details of promote the workshop and consultation. During the preparation of this proposal, we consulted knowledge on FiT with us. We have also consulted Gigi the scheme. Miss Christine Fong Kwok-shan, a District Councillor in Lam, a member of CarbonCare InnoLab, and Lai Ming- INTENDED OUTCOME the district. We would also invite some other District chuen, the Chairman of Green Sense. We believe that Councillors in that district, such as Miss Zoe Leung they can give us opinions and valuable knowledge on 2. Workshop and Consultation Pilot Scheme The pilot scheme achieves a huge success and attracts 6 of Sai Kung Commons. These District Councillors are editing our legal package. DETAILS AND PREPARATION more districts to join us. PV panel owners, current, and concerned about district development and have deep In the first phase of our proposal, we would focus potential FiT participants aware of the potential legal traps that they may fall into. Participants can ask the understandings about their district. We believe that Legal experts our attention in Sai Kung District. If successful, we their knowledge provides us with valuable help in our legal experts or successful applicants more specific We consulted Professor Hao Zhang, who is a leading would extend it to other districts. We would reach out workshops. to District Councillors, concern groups and owners’ questions directly, which can satisfy their needs. They energy law expert, about the possible legal issues of corporations so as to invite residents and current and can then adopt necessary measures in dealing with FiT scheme. We believe that he can advise us on the 7 Successful applicants of FiT potential FiT participants to join the workshops. We these legal issues and seek independent legal advice if preparation on legal workshops and legal materials of would also invite academics, legal practitioners, and needed. The general public have a better understanding We will invite some successful applicants of FiT, to the website. student volunteers to host the workshops. If student about the complicated legal issues of FiT. share their experiences in dealing with legal issues in PV volunteers host the workshops, they should ask for the installations in both workshop and the website. advice of academics and legal practitioners. All their Student volunteers find out the difficulties and materials should be approved and proofread by the accumulate the requisite skills and experience to host legal practitioners and academics. more workshops in other districts.
12 Renew the FiT 13 PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS PROJECTS TIMELINE
Problem Solution Task Start Date End Date There may be difficulty in reaching out to In view of this difficulty, we will launch a pilot scheme and focus Recruitment of student volunteers Jan 2020 Jun 2020 11 the community and spotting residents who our attention on one district first, before we extend our scheme are interested in joining the workshop. to other districts. We will try to collaborate with some NGOs Training for student volunteers Jan 2020 Jun 2020 who are well-known in the area of solar energy development, Research and preparation Jan 2020 Mar 2020 such as CarbonCare InnoLab and Hong Kong Solar Partner, and • Legal research for materials of both workshops and website District Councillors in the district. The experience of the NGOs • Contact potential partners: including NGOs and District Councillors can help us spot current and potential FiT participants who 2 lack requisite legal knowledge. District Councillors can help us Website: Development of website Feb 2020 Mar 2020 contact residents in their district and invite residents to join our Website: Trial period Apr 2020 May 2020 programme. Website: Publishing Jun 2020 – Residents may not be able to join our We would collaborate with District Councillors in hosting Legal workshop (Pilot Scheme) Jul 2020 Aug 2020 workshops. workshops. Through the District Councillors, we identify 3 potential buildings and contact residents who are interested in FiT and then invite them to join our workshops.
District Councillors and NGOs may not be We believe that this is unlikely to be an issue. It has only been one interested in being our partners. month since the District Council elections. Many newly elected BUDGET BREAKDOWN 4 District Councillors would be keen to boost their popularity and reform their communities. We believe that our proposal is attractive to them as this can add value to their platforms. Besides, we aim for Sai Kung District as the location of our first pilot scheme. In the case that Councillors in Sai Kung are not Task Budget (HK$) 5 interested, we will reach out to other districts. After we are Website successful in our pilot scheme in one district, we can attract 3 Councillors in other districts to join us. Website design, website fee, and annual maintenance cost 9,000 Video tutorials 100 There may be difficulties in promoting the We will share the website on social media platforms, such as Promotion fee (Advertising on social media/pamphlet/posters in NGO centres) 2,500 website. Facebook and Instagram, and also invite our partners, including 6 NGOs and District Councillors, to share our website. Workshop and Consultation Pilot Scheme (3 times) Workshop materials and stationery 300 Refreshments 300
Allowance for speakers 600 7 TOTAL: 12,800
14 Renew the FiT 15 MONITORING AND EVALUATION PLAN SUSTAINABILITY AND STRATEGY FOR MULTIPLIER EFFECT
The evaluation of our proposal is mainly divided into participants can compare the results and witness Low Cost Student Committee two parts. their improvements after attending the workshops. Participants are asked several questions, such as the The cost of running the website is very low. It continues Student volunteers will be recruited and working as 11 related ordinances regarding certain legal requirements to provide legal information for the public and potential student committee every year. They are responsible for Website of the solar PV panel installation. The more questions FiT participants. Although the cost for creation of updating the website and materials for workshops and they answer correctly, the more score they hit. website is relatively high, it is a one-off fixed cost and inviting guests to host workshops. We will evaluate the effectiveness of this platform • Average score hit by participants in the objective the cost for maintenance in the future is much lower. by the statistics obtained from the operation of the tests Moreover, starting the small-scale pilot workshop website. We will also invite users to rate the platform. in only Sai Kung district can greatly reduce the cost. More Funding 2 There are several indicators of the performance: In the subjective part, participants are asked to evaluate We can learn from the experience and make further their knowledge about legal issues in FiT. They will • Number of the users improvements, which will help us to allocate the Environment and Conservation Fund under • Average rating compare their level of legal knowledge before and after resources better. the workshop. Moreover, they will be asked about their Environmental Campaign Committee provides funding • Number of users, after using the website, that are for social education in the area of RE development4. Our interested in joining our workshop willingness to handle the legal issues of FiT. • Whether participants can acquire more legal proposal may be eligible to apply for the funding as it 3 • Number of users, after using the website, that feel Pilot Scheme serves a purpose of raising public awareness of FiT. This more knowledgeable about FiT legal issues knowledge regarding FiT • Whether the potential legal problems will provides more financial resources in sustaining our • Any further information they would like to include Once we are successful in running the FiT in the first proposals going forward. For small scale projects, the in the website discourage participants from applying for FiT • The confidence level of participants in settling legal pilot district, we can attract residents in other districts funding cap is $50,000. to join our proposal. Also, student volunteers will also help to update the issues of PV installation website if necessary in the future. • Whether participants know how to seek assistance 4 when holding with legal issues • How do the workshops help with their legal issues Workshop and Consultation Since we collect the information from the users, we will also provide a Personal Information Collection After each workshop, we will give three sets of Statement under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance 5 questionnaires to the participants and invite them to (Cap. 486) to protect the privacy interests of our give feedback on our workshop. The questionnaire is participants in relation to personal data. It states the divided into 3 parts, including the general, objective and purpose of collection, consequence of not providing subjective parts. The general part is mainly about the data, transfer of personal data and access, and quality of workshops. Questions include: correction of personal data. • Reasons of joining the workshops 6 • How do the participants learn about our workshops There are several indicators of the effectiveness of • Whether the information is suitable or useful workshop and consultation: • Whether the duration and venue is appropriate • Number of participants of the workshop • Whether participants are satisfied with workshops • Number of participants, after using the website, are • Any suggestions for improvement of the workshop knowledgeable and feel more confident in handling legal issues of FiT 7 The objective part deals with their knowledge of the legal issues of FiT. Before attending the workshops Student volunteers can then improve and adjust the participants are asked to complete a questionnaire workshop and consultation according to needs of the regarding the legal issues of FiT. After the workshops, participants. they will complete the questionnaire again. Then,
REFERENCE: 1. https://www.enb.gov.hk/sites/default/files/pdf/ClimateActionPlanChi.pdf 2. https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MULR/1983/16.pdf 3. https://www.webfx.com/How-much-should-web-site-cost.html 4. https://www.ecf.gov.hk/doc/eeca_guide_to_application_en.pdf
16 Renew the FiT 17 SUMMARY OF OUR PROJECT
This project aims to rescue edible surplus food that contributor to MSW discarded at landfills in Hong Kong, would otherwise be discarded as waste and redistribute comprising 34% of the total MSW for 2017. In fact, the it within Hong Kong. We propose to focus (at least daily amount of food waste being discarded in Hong 1 initially) on Hong Kong’s student population. University Kong has surged by 41% within the last decade to 985 LAW FOR CHANGE campuses in Hong Kong are home to thousands of tonnes.2 students who inevitably discard a substantial amount STUDENT of food every day. We see these campuses as a huge While food may be discarded for various reasons, food donation “market” which NGOs have yet to tap several of these reasons are in fact unrelated to the COMPETITION 2019 into. We propose to work with NGOs such as Foodlink edibility of the food (e.g. unattractive appearance of 2 to launch a pilot project on City University campus in food or food that is close to, but has not yet surpassed, TEAM PROJECT TITLE order to promote awareness of and facilitate surplus its “best-before” date) which could otherwise have food redistribution. remained fit for human consumption. Our project seeks Eco-Responsibility – to introduce a system whereby this edible food can be In spite of the imminent saturation of several strategic donated and redistributed within Hong Kong instead of Save the Food, Banish Hunger landfill sites in Hong Kong, there has been a marked being discarded. 3 2 increase in the amount of municipal solid waste (“MSW”) being discarded at landfill sites in recent years Our project can therefore simultaneously meet multiple MEMBERS (for example, a 2017 study showed a 17% increase in the policy objectives in Hong Kong such as welfare support CHEUNG Ka Chun discarding of MSW within the last decade to 3.9 million to the needy, environmental protection, and efficiency tonnes).1 Analyzed by type, food waste was the largest in resource allocation. DAI Feiyang 4 HO Kin Li ADEKOLA Tolulope Anthony PROBLEM ANALYSIS SCHOOL 5 City University of Hong Kong
After a comprehensive assessment of the existing food is usually close to its expiry date, both donors and landscape in relation to food waste and food donation intermediaries need to deliver the food to the ultimate in Hong Kong, we found that both potential food recipients under a very tight schedule. 6 donors and intermediaries (mainly food banks and charity organizations) face a number of constraints Food safety concerns and potential liability of donors: in the food donation process which may contribute Certain statutory requirements must be met whilst to a reluctance to engage in food donation and donating food (the applicable legal framework is set out redistribution. These barriers are summarized below: below). The fear of running foul of these requirements often drives prospective donors to discard surplus food 7 Logistical challenges: The “lack of funds for the in order to avoid potential liabilities associated with organization of logistics” is considered as “one of the donating food. For instance, the donors may fear that most limiting factors in food redistribution”.3 Potential if the final consumers of the donated food get sick, donors and intermediaries need to spare resources to the donors may face prosecution and compensation store the food before onward delivery. Storage can be claims. The risks of criminal and civil liabilities cause costly, especially for highly perishable foods in the cold prospective donors to discard the edible food instead. chain. According to the Research Office of the Legislative Besides, the cost of transporting donated food from Council Secretariat, concerns about legal liability donors to intermediary food banks and then to final account for 67% of reasons why food are not donated4. consumers can be high, especially when the donation is Potential donors tend to discard unused edible food to in large quantity. Furthermore, given that the donated avoid risks associated with liability for donated food.
18 Eco Responsibility- Save the Food, Banish Hunger 19 APPLICABLE LEGAL FRAMEWORK GOVERNING FOOD PROJECT DESCRIPTION DONATION AND REDISTRIBUTION
Our project aims to promote awareness in Hong Kong food waste each year. Second, intermediaries (such as There is presently no formal legal framework regulating At the meeting of the Executive Council held on 16 of surplus food redistribution and to facilitate this food NGOs) do not have direct access to information on the food donation or redistribution in Hong Kong. The October 2018, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong ordered redistribution in an innovative way: quantity and type of the collected food, which makes 1 Government of Hong Kong is taking a rather voluntary that the Waste Disposal (Charging for Municipal Solid it hard to arrange transportation logistics for the food. approach in promoting food donation among its Waste) (Amendment) Bill 2018 be introduced into the Third, the conventional food collection box is designed citizens. Legislative Council for the implementation of MSW Scope of Project in a way that prioritizes the function of “collection,” charging. The bill proposes to adopt two charging while failing to promote the benefits of reducing waste. In 2013, the Government launched the Food Wise modes based on the polluter-pays principle and the We propose to launch a pilot project on City University Dealing with each of these problems in turn: Charter aiming to promote food donation and existing waste collection system namely “charging by campus, with prospective food donors being the staff 2 redistribution,5 with 698 companies and institutions designated garbage bags” and “charging by weight”. and students residing within the University Campus. a) First, our food collection boxes will be placed at currently having signed up to it. However, the Charter is Whilst not dealing with food donation specifically, the a) We carried out a survey of students of the City various publicly accessible locations on the City non-binding and lacks teeth. Bill aims to provide the necessary financial incentives University campus; the result of the survey shows University campus where students can take their to drive behavioral changes and encourage various that more than half of respondents have excess surplus food for recycling. An anti-theft tablet stand The Government has emphasized that it has no sectors of the community to practice waste reduction food, and eighty percent of respondents expressed will be installed to protect the tablets from being intention to introduce specific legislation governing and donate unwanted food. However, the Bill is not yet a willingness to donate surplus food if it is stolen. 3 food donation or a “Good Samaritan Law”.6 At end- in force. convenient to do so. 2015, the Environment Bureau declared that “the b) Second, we propose to produce an “upgraded” Government has no plan to introduce a Good Samaritan In summary, the lack of awareness and uncertainty b) On the strength of the survey results, we intend to collection box equipped with a tablet and a mini- Law”, partly because any contractual arrangement about food donation caused by the lack of a Good collaborate with NGOs working on food donation printer. An embedded tablet is attached to each between food donors and charity organizations should Samaritan Law in Hong Kong as well as the perceived to carry out the aspiration of the respondents by box, enabling donors to review and sign a waiver already address the liability issues associated with food risks of attracting liability by donating food act as a ensuring that their surplus food makes its way to form on our website (which we will also develop) 4 donation (which any Good Samaritan Law would, in substantial disincentive for potential food donors to those in need. when dropping off food donations. They are also large part, aim to address). actively engage in food donation. However, this project required to input information pertaining to the intends to educate people about food donation and c) Following the launch of the pilot project, we then donated food, e.g. expiry date and food type. Once The Government has also declared that it is not redistribution and will also minimize the potential hope to extend the project to other University the above two steps are completed, the mini-printer prepared to provide tax incentives to food donors, as liability risks by allowing donors to enter into a release campuses in Hong Kong. will then print out a sticky memo pad containing a 5 such incentives may not be effective in reducing food of liability agreement (see below). QR code that is machine-readable. A notification will waste. pop up on the tablet screen at this moment asking How the Project Works the donor to put the memo pad on the donated food and finish the last step of dropping off. The tablet will notify us and the NGOs (with whom we We propose to design and build multi-functional propose to work – see below) of the information food collection boxes that will reduce the burden of received once a donation is completed through the 6 collecting donated food. Wi-Fi network.
Food collection boxes have been widely used by local c) To guarantee the best hygiene standard, only food NGOs to rescue edible surplus food. For example, Food that satisfies certain criteria will be accepted, e.g. Angel, the largest food rescue organization in Hong 2 weeks or more before expiry date and dry food Kong, has placed 15 food collection boxes at 15 shopping with intact package. Based on the information 7 centres all over the city. transmitted by the tablet, we will create an inventory database that is readily accessible for Whilst these boxes are helpful in encouraging the NGOs to track current donations and optimize the public to donate extra food, there are also problems operations of their transportation resources. We will associated with them. First, very few food collection also conduct inspections of the collection boxes in boxes are placed on university campuses or residence person on a weekly basis in person to ensure they halls despite college students producing a great deal of are working properly and not being mistreated.
20 Eco Responsibility- Save the Food, Banish Hunger 21 PROJECT DESCRIPTION EVALUATION PLAN
d) The donated food will then be transported to the b) Then the donor will be asked to choose the type An evaluation will be held after the pilot scheme is We will also hold regular meetings internally, with the NGOs’ warehouses where volunteers can scan and amount of the donated food and indicate the completed. There are two aspects to be evaluated in NGOs and the student bodies more widely (who will the QR codes on the sticky memos to get explicit expiration dates. the pilot scheme. First, the data relating to the amount, be our primary donors) to update our work processes 1 information about the food in real time. The NGOs type, and quality of the donated food which can then and to further fine-tune our project. In particular, the will then be responsible for distributing the food to c) We will build a website with a user-friendly be used to form an idea of what food students tend to NGOs will provide feedback on the quantity of food the ultimate beneficiaries. interface for donors to complete the donate and in what quantities. This will in turn inform received and the general effectiveness of the project. aforementioned activities. the second aspect which is how the data collected from The student bodies will also be surveyed and asked e) Third, the tablets on the food collection boxes will the pilot scheme can be used to inform the logistical for feedback on their continued perception of and have video capabilities which will showcase social operation of the project in other student campuses. For participation in the project in order to guarantee its 2 media feeds and videos from food-related NGOs Collaboration with NGOs and Other example, the website, which will serve as an inventory sustainability. highlighting how massive the food wastage issue Stakeholders database, will keep track of the peak ‘food donation is in Hong Kong. By using the tablet in this way, we months’ among the student body, such as the end of We will also continue to monitor developments in the can raise the profile of our project campus-wide semesters when students are trying to get rid of surplus Legislative Council of Hong Kong with regard to the We propose to work with NGOs such as Foodlink.7 and, more importantly, we can raise awareness food. This data will be shared with the NGOs and Good Samaritan Bill and the Waste Disposal (Charging a) We have spoken with various NGOs about our amongst students of Hong Kong’s food wastage will inform our continued operations (e.g. how often for Municipal Solid Waste) (Amendment) Bill 2018. project. One of these NGOs, FoodLink, is keen to 3 problem. To sum up, the new-designed collection donated food should be transported to the NGOs for collaborate with us. Foodlink has indicated that it box excels in not only “collection,” but also onward distribution). will work with us on our pilot project to transport “promotion.” the food that we have collected to the ultimate beneficiaries. Foodlink has skilled manpower and industry expertise and will be a valuable asset to 4 Release of Liability Agreement our project.
We propose to require each donor to sign a release of b) The City University authority will also be a vital liability agreement upon donating food. stakeholder in supporting our project. We will work PROJECT TIMELINE a) In order to minimize the liability concern that many with them to progress our project campus-wide. potential donors have, the donor will be required 5 to sign a liability release agreement on the tablet c) We are also planning to work with various student upon donating the food and after reading a concise organizations to promote our project through Task Start Date End Date summary of existing laws and regulations. activities like educational lectures and events. PHASE 01: Initial engagement • Approaching NGOs and other stakeholders to secure their participation Nov 2019 Feb 2020 in the project 6 PHASE 02: Project preparation • Designing, developing, and producing the collection box Mar 2020 May 2020 PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY • Developing a website that is accessible to donors through the tablet, including a database of the donated food that is accessible to us and the NGOs 7 PHASE 03: Implementation of project On the sustainability of the project, we intend that In addition, NGOs are integral to the sustainability our idea will be permanently incorporated into the of the project. With the willingness of NGOs, such as • Placing collection boxes around campus Jun 2020 Oct 2020 activities of student groups and community service Foodlink, to collaborate with us, we believe our project • Launching campus-wide advertising campaigns groups within the City University community. There are is sustainable going forward. • Working with NGOs to redistribute all donated food several student associations willing to collaborate with PHASE 04: Project evaluation us in the management of the food donation sites and We also intend to replicate the project in other logistics. universities in order to solve the serious issue of food • Evaluation of pilot project in terms of levels of student engagement, Nov 2020 Dec 2020 wastage. amount of food donated and success of collaboration with NGOs in food redistribution
22 Eco Responsibility- Save the Food, Banish Hunger 23 BUDGET BREAKDOWN
Item Estimated Budget (HK$) Website development cost 8,000 1 Including designing and hosting the website, and buying a domain with 10 GB online data storage LAW FOR CHANGE Developing 5 collection boxes • Stainless steel collection boxes including related logistics cost ($500 x 5) 2,500 STUDENT • Tablets with anti-theft stand for security ($1500 x 5) 7,500 • Label printing machine including related logistics and installation cost ($500 x 5) 2,500 COMPETITION 2019 2
Operational costs TEAM PROJECT TITLE • Logistics cost for the pilot scheme 5,000 • Promotion cost 3,000 Regendering Gender • Contingency 6,500 3 Provision for expanding project to other universities 15,000 3 and Sexuality TOTAL: 50,000 MEMBERS CORPUZ Angeline Nicole Martin1 2 KANGARA Kuterera Myrmidon Zvikomborero 4
CONCLUSION SCHOOL 1 City University of Hong Kong 2 The Chinese University of Hong Kong 5
Our project will enable us and our NGO partners to tap Given Hong Kong’s severe food wastage problem and into the food donation “market” on student campuses the fact that it lacks a Good Samaritan food donation where we can promote awareness of and facilitate law, it is hoped that our project will raise awareness of surplus food redistribution. the problem (initially at a university student level but subsequently on a more national level) and change 6 people’s habits as to how they treat surplus food.
7
REFERENCE: 1. Environmental Affairs. Research Office. Legislative Council Secretariat. Municipal solid waste and food waste recovery. 12 February, 2019, https://www. legco.gov.hk/research-publications/english/1819issh20-municipal-solid-waste-and-food-waste-recovery-20190212-e.pdf, last accessed 17 December 2019 2. Ibid at page 2 3. Information Note. Food donation policies in selected places. Prepared by CHEUNG Chi-fai Research Office Information Services Division Legislative Council Secretariat 30 August 2017, https://www.legco.gov.hk/research-publications/english/1617in18-food-donation-policies-in-selected-places- 20170830-e.pdf accessed 17 December 2019 4. Ibid at page 6 5. General Guidelines for Facilitating the Food Wise Charter Signees to complete the Implementation Proforma https://www.foodwisehk.gov.hk/pdf/ foodwaste_booklet_eng_20170320.pdf accessed 17 December 2019 6. Information Note. Food donation policies in selected places. Prepared by CHEUNG Chi-fai Research Office Information Services Division Legislative Council Secretariat 30 August 2017, https://www.legco.gov.hk/research-publications/english/1617in18-food-donation-policies-in-selected-places- 20170830-e.pdf accessed 17 December 2019 7. https://www.foodlinkfoundation.org/home
24 25 OVERVIEW
Project Summary Finally, in order to create a sense of urgency to reform the UN Fourth World Conference on Women of 1995, A questionnaire survey conducted by the Research the sexual education system and a drive to reform the which concerned adolescent sexual and reproductive Office of the Legislative Council Secretariat (the The aim of our project is to reeducate members of existing protections for victims of sexual abuse, we will issues similar to those contained in the ICPD and the Research Office) revealed that 25% of the respondents 1 society to embrace their sexuality while recognizing submit research, petitions, and data to the Legislative CRC. This Declaration underscored a commitment felt that they did not receive any proper sex education their role in preventing and protecting others from Council. This research will be assisted by Student to “ensure equal access to and equal treatment of in the 2017-18 academic year. Unreassuringly, 75% of sexual abuse. The ultimate end is to move towards a representatives, and it will entail the inclusion of males women and men in education and health care and those who received this education received only 0 to 4 society where sex education is not victim-oriented, but and gender non-binary persons as victims of sexual enhance women’s sexual and reproductive health as hours of sex education at school in a year, at best, only a caters to all genders- simultaneously teaching males abuse in the readings of relevant statutes, and the well as education”. These goals are handicapped when fifth of the 20-hour-per-year standard recommended by more about the importance of consent, responsibility, engagement of would-be offenders in sexual education reproductive health and sexuality education are not the 1997 Guidelines. Students then turn to social media, 2 and healthy masculinity. Evidently, sex is regarded efforts and sexual protection policies. sufficiently taught in official school curricula. the internet, and other conventional sources to fill as a taboo in Hong Kong, so where schools should the knowledge gap, and are often misled by improper educate on sexuality and abuse, this education is While universal primary education, per Millennium values and stereotypical expectations. inevitably restricted to how a female victim should Need Assessment Development Goal 2, mainly relates to access to react in an encounter with a sexual predator. This education, equipping young people, women and girls A subject as important as sexual education is not in particular, with the knowledge about their sexual adequately taught when left to the discretion of is insufficient, and our project will provide more The social justice issue in question: the right to 3 and reproductive health can greatly influence the individual schools, propped up only by loose guidelines. holistic education for the next generation of adults protection and education. in matters relating to sexuality, including emotional achievement of other goals: MDG 3 (attaining gender When the Research Office set different questions Sex is an issue which affects every group in society on equality and empowering women), MDG 5 (reducing about sex knowledge in a questionnaire based on the relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, a daily basis, therefore, deficiencies in sexual education sexual intercourse, reproduction, reproductive health, maternal mortality, as well as morbidity) and MDG 6 Guidelines, only 3.1% of secondary school respondents negatively impact sexual health and maturity, making it (fighting HIV/AIDS). Therefore, in order to afford young and 8.5% of primary school respondents answered reproductive rights, safe sex, birth control, and sexual more likely that abstinence. people the agency to make informed decisions on their 4 or more questions correctly out of 5. Though the 4 i) there will be more victims of sexual assault, sexual lives, the right to sexual education and gender questions were based on the students’ knowledge unplanned pregnancy, and persons unwittingly based protections must be actualized. level, few could answer them correctly. According to Our project will engage NGOs who have the requisite contracting Sexually transmitted infections and expertise in sexual health teachings, with the aim of the ‘Report on Youth Sexuality Study 2016’ conducted Fulfilling the need by The Family Planning Association of Hong Kong, local expanding their services in schools, and we will enable ii) these victims of sexual assault will go unreported schools to access the services of these NGOs through a The most daunting sign of the need to update sexual secondary 3 to 6 students could generally only answer and unassisted, due to not knowing what channels 5 web-based app. This app will also provide children and education in Hong Kong, is the fact that the curriculum 8 of 12 sex-related questions. Worse still, Teachers to follow, or feeling socially unsupported, there may are not adequately trained in sex education, most students with up-to-date information on Sexual Health, an increase in abortions, and higher numbers of STIs of the Guidelines on Sex Education in Schools (hereafter puberty, and other sex-related issues. Video uploads, “The Guidelines”) have not been amended since they receiving no training in sex education as it is only an contracted, with HIV/AIDS contractions increasing, elective subject in the teacher training. Thus, there question, and comment sections are all facilities and often going undetected. were adopted in 1997. The curriculum and content of the app will be equipped with, to allow interactive the sex education which is currently in place is not is no guarantee that teachers can teach and answer students’ questions sufficiently well. Between March discussion. The provision of sex education is a human right. standardised. It is not unusual for schools to allocate 6 only a brief period of time to teaching children about and May 2015, The Hong Kong Federation of Youth According to the Convention on the Rights of the Groups School Social Work Unit conducted a study With the assistance of NGOs and professors, we will Child (CRC,) all young people have the right to access pubertal developments, nor is it unusual for schools to publish booklets which will be readily available in teach students about these developments only during which saw them interviewing 582 teachers from 51 information which promotes their physical and schools. 40.5% respondents were not familiar with schools, and will contain basic information on sexual mental wellbeing (article 17), and states have a duty to their adolescence, at a time when some would already health and direct students to avenues where they can have experienced these bodily changes, with others sex-related knowledge and sex-relevant teaching skills, develop preventive health care, guidelines for parents which complicated the learning of sexual education. find out more information or seek help. These booklets and family planning education and resources (article having little time to ready themselves for the changes 7 will be distributed in schools, particularly during NGO they will then be experiencing. 24). Children have the right to education, which will According to the Department of Health, the number workshops, where trained student representatives from help them to nurture growth in personality, talents schools will provide assistance, and head Sexual Health The End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation, in an interview, of reported HIV infection cases rose from 181 in 1997 to as well as to assist them to develop their mental and 692 in 2016. Among these 692 cases, 28% of the persons Clubs within the schools. Essay writing competitions physical competencies (article 29). Furthermore, the criticized The Guidelines as being too expensive, making and movie screening on the theme of sexual health them difficult for teachers and schools to manage. diagnosed with HIV were aged between 20 and 29. Convention on the Elimination of the Discrimination Between 2014 and 2016, The University of Hong Kong will also be held to increase interest and understanding against Women (CEDAW) requires states parties to In addition, it is not compulsory for schools to teach of sexual education. In wider society, these will be sex education to students as schools are not required conducted a study which reflected that the prevalence eliminate any stereotyped conceptions of gender roles of Chlamydia trachomatis was as high as 6% among complemented by discussions by NGO personnel on at all levels of education, including revising text books to include it in the curriculum by the Education and radio stations and open screening movies, which will be Manpower Bureau. Without the incentive to teach females aged 18-26, and 5% among males of the same and education programmes (article 10 (c)). Of note age-range, who reported having sexual experience followed by discussion sessions from a panel of experts. is the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action of students sex education, and with no workable teaching structure, it is no surprise that the Guidelines are barely in the past year. These figures reflect the results of functional.
26 Regendering Gender and Sexuality 27 OVERVIEW GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
shortcomings in sexuality education. In 2016, about Clearly, an insufficient, optional curriculum on sexual Goals 19% to 34% of the surveyed S3-S6 students who had education is not only leading young adults to engage 1 To enhance sexual education among youth sexual intercourse considered that they had insufficient in risky behaviour, but is also making them more 1 knowledge about contraception. 57% of the surveyed vulnerable to sexual predators. 2 To increase awareness and discussion of sexual affairs in society S3-S6 students and 40% of S1-S2 students considered that schools should provide more sexuality education. A matter of urgency 3 To secure legislative backing to fortify protections of all vulnerable persons and potential victims Indicatively, when the Family Planning Association of Evidently, the deficient sexuality education has taken Objectives Hong Kong conducted a Youth Sexuality Study in 2016. its toll on young adults, inhibiting their growth, Therein, S3-S6 students generally scored of eight correct and maturation of adults who conduct themselves 1 To institute a comprehensive curriculum which caters to the need for sexual education 2 answers out of the 12 key questions about conception, responsibly in sexual matters. Teenagers may violate 2 To provide schools with ease of access to teaching facilities, and NGO support STIs and HIV/AIDS in 2016, a decrease from nine in 2011. the law due to ignorance of the age of consent or The average score of S1-S2 students, only six in 2011, contact sexually-transmitted diseases because 3 To raise enthusiasm and interest in sexual health through screenings, discussions, competitions and media further fell to five in 2016. Around 45% of the youths of insufficient knowledge about contraception. influence aged 18 to 27 had experienced sexual intercourse, Sexual abuse has also seen a rise, with victims being mostly starting from the age of 19. However, around younger and younger, and more ignorant about what 4 To furnish analyses and date to the Legislative Council with regards the need for sexual health education, 3 9% of these sexually active youths had not used constitutes sexual abuse, and how to report it and and better protections for potential victims of sexual abuse, including (but not limited to) males and any contraception in the six months preceding seek help. Conservatism around sex only means that transgender persons. enumeration. youngsters cannot discuss the problems they are encountering, and the school curricula need to adapt to Adolescents, unarmed with knowledge of their the need for sexual education. Legislative reform is also sexuality, are more vulnerable to misinformation from essential to widen the protections afforded to sexual 4 their peers and pornography. The 2016 survey also abuse victims to non-binary gendered persons, and reflected that about 33% of secondary school girls and to make it mandatory for teachers to be provided the 59% of boys had ever viewed pornography, up five training that they need to be competent educators in percentage points from 2011. One in five boys who had matters relating to sex. viewed pornography had done so over than 15 times in 5 the past month. Among all respondents, around 15% The steep rise in contractions of sexually transmitted to 20% females and 30% males received pornographic infections, sexual abuse reports, and the indications messages or pictures on their mobile phones. With of student lack of knowledge from surveys conducted social media and sexualisation in popular culture by various departments are a plea for reform in becoming more common, there is an urgent need to sexual education. This reform should come sooner revamp sexual education. rather than later, so a generation of students can be 6 offered the opportunity to embrace their sexuality Sexual abuse increases with miseducation, and non- and engage in healthy and safe intercourse, if they so education on sexual affairs. The sexual abuse figures choose. Without such reforms, the ills of pornography, released by the Social Welfare Department and the End with its misunderstanding of sexual relations beyond Child Sexual Abuse Foundation, highlight the glaring physical intercourse, will play out in the lives of young need to enhance the education on how to keep oneself adolescents. It is time to finally recognize and deliver on 7 safe from coercive or abusive sexual encounters. In the right that all children to have sexual education and 2016, the Social Welfare Department recorded 294 protection from sexual harm. reported child sexual abuse cases, an increase from 233 in 2006. The End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation also recorded undertaking 66 inquiries on suspected child sexual abuse cases in 2016, 54% of which involved victims below 10 years of age. The End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation resultantly advocated for enhancing sexuality education at home and in schools, and starting sexuality education during kindergarten.
28 Regendering Gender and Sexuality 29 DETAILED ACTIVITY PROPOSAL
App sharings from NGOs will be supported by student Student representatives engagement these booklets with essay and poetry competitions representatives from the respective schools. These Student representatives will provide research and on the subject of sexuality, abuse and its prevention, student representatives will attend specialized trainings technical assistance during the designing of teaching and sexual education in general, essays, which will 1 Stakeholders engaged: student volunteers, NGOs from NGOs to enable them to appropriately assist in materials which NGOs will use in schools. These have a minimal entry fee. Winners will be awarded As access to online information on sex-related issues conducting these workshops. students will assist in printing materials, designing a prize in the form of money, sexual education is an efficient way for teenagers and adolescents to posters, and facilitating the smooth operation of resources, including the aforementioned booklets, and independently learn about sexuality and forming We will run supervised screenings of movies along the workshops and learning sessions. These student a certificate issued by one of the NGOs overseeing the healthy sexual relationships, we will launch a theme of sexuality, some of which will be open to the representatives will be able to head Sexual Health Clubs competition. web-based app, which will grant visitors access to general public. The adult screenings will include an in their individual schools and assist in the running of 2 information on various subjects from contraception, entry fee, and will be followed by discussion sessions, essay competitions and movie screenings. NGO engagement puberty, what constitutes sexual abuse and how to which will be enlightened by a panel of professionals NGOs will provide assistance in running the report it, to websites where information on sexual and commentators. These screenings will be held in competitions, reading submissions and hosting award the event spaces of NGOs, or in schools. Thus, we will issues is freely available. Apart from this content, video Booklets ceremonies. Winning submissions will be posted on uploads will be allowed (after screening by the app be able increase interest in and knowledge around the websites of the NGOs, and the certificates which operator for appropriateness,) with question posting the subject of sexuality, both inside and outside the awardees will be given will have the logos of the 3 facilities and chatrooms to encourage interactive classroom. For the wider society, we will engage social Stakeholder engagement: NGOs, student supporting NGOs. discussion also available. Through this app, schools will workers and educators in sexuality on social media and representatives, professors and experts through popular channels such as radio broadcasts and also be able to reach out to NGOs offering workshops With the assistance of NGOs, legal practitioners, Professors, expert and student engagement and services related to sexual education. NGOs will also television, to foster knowledge and discussion. and professors specializing in sexual education and These booklets will be proofread for quality by assisting be able to invite schools to enlist for their assistance gender related fields, we will also publish two booklets professors and student representatives. The latter and indications on which NGOs are available will be For University Students, as they would have already 4 (primary to secondary, and tertiary to adult), which will also be tasked with distributing the materials to visible. This will help to increase the number of hours passed through the schooling system with limited students can read and learn from, containing exercises, different classrooms, and providing technical support which students are taught about sexuality and related sexual education, we will encourage Offices of Student and tasks to complete. before competitions i.e. creating fliers and distributing issues. Affairs and General Education Departments to institute a mandatory course on sexual education, or mandatory them, disseminating information on schools on These booklets will contain information on the attendance of lecture series on sexual health topics. competitions, and providing logistical support during NGO engagement following topics: The course on Sexual Education would initially be on a the competitions and award ceremonies. 5 • Human development (including puberty, NGOs will be pivotal in ensuring that the content pass/ fail basis, and it on the discretion of the individual reproduction, gender identity, and sexual on the website is accurate and suitable for the Institutions, the course will be awarded credits. children to understand. Questions posed by website orientation) Legislative Council Research and Data visitors will also be answered by NGO personnel, and • Relationships (including families, friendships, dating, Engagement of Professors and Experts in Sexual Submission videos uploads and chatrooms will be mediated and romantic, and sexual relationship) Health related subjects supervised by Social workers and NGO staff. • Personal skills (including decision-making, 6 We will also approach Professors in Sexual Health and negotiation, and communicating) Finally, through petitions, liaisons with Legislative Gender related fields, and with their assistance, posters, • Sexual behaviour (including abstinence and Councillors, and by providing research on the need for sexual education, we will create a current of support Workshops at schools activities and teaching materials exploring sexual sexuality) health will be designed. These professors and experts • Sexual health (including contraception, sexually for comprehensive sexual education in schools and will be welcomed to assist in NGO workshops, and transmitted diseases, and pregnancy) an increased awareness of the need to reform the Stakeholder engagement: NGOs, Professors in they will be given the opportunity to share information • Society and culture (including pornography, stipulated Guidelines on Sex Education in Schools. 7 related fields, Student Representatives with parents on how to teach their child about sex and inclusivity, gender roles, and sexuality in popular To achieve our aims, we will form partnerships with sexuality, during parent-teacher meetings. Workshops culture) Surveys of participating schools will be held, and local NGOs which specialise in sex education and will also be held where these professors and experts, feedback will also be taken through the app on the gender awareness. As these NGOs already provide their along with NGO staff, can teach school teachers These booklets will be tailored to the ages and effectiveness of the sexual education that is being services to some schools, and hold workshops therein, more about sexual education and how to address the developmental stages of the students, and will contain provided, as well as the skills and competencies the we will increase their influence, which institutions will curiosity or confusion of adolescents during puberty. phone numbers of social workers and helplines students resultantly develop. This research will be readily welcome as these NGOs are well recognized, Professors will also assist in encouraging their Faculties students can call if they are being abused, or if they submitted to the Legislative Council. trusted educators in this field. Among primary and and Departments to adopt a mandatory Lecture Series, are looking for more information. We will support secondary school students, these workshops and or Course on Sexual Education for University Students.
30 Regendering Gender and Sexuality 31 PROJECT TIMELINE MONITORING AND EVALUATION
Activity Time Monitoring sexual education. As our project will more thoroughly and comprehensively cover topics related to sexuality, STAGE 1: Stakeholder Recruitment To monitor progress made, each team member will students from participating schools will rank well 1 • Contacting NGOs, student volunteers Feb 2020 be responsible for coordinating and assisting specific in these assessments. We will also have internal To assist with the app and booklet, for first-hand information schools, and monthly meeting will be held to monitor assessment methods, crafted with the assistance • Contact Legislative Council members Feb 2020 the progress that is being made. of NGOs, which will look to the effectiveness of To seek their assistance in initiating discussion on gender laws and sex education workshops, and will correspond with guidelines utilized in other countries and approved by international bodies. • Contact sex education experts Feb 2020 Student representatives To seek their input on content of workshops, booklets etc. 2 Student representatives from schools will also report An increased openness towards discussing sex STAGE 2: Preparation on the progress which their Sexual Health Clubs are will be difficult to evaluate for the general public, • Preparing content for proposed activities Mar 2020 making, and how many topics they have explored. notwithstanding, we will take into consideration the Draft the content for the app, school workshops, booklet and LegCo research. These reports will be given after each club meeting, and feedback and evaluations of attendees of screenings alterations will be discussed. and discussion panels, as well as listeners of radio STAGE 3: Implementation broadcasts. Feedback on our app will also be used to 3 • Contacting IT specialists to develop the application Jun-Jul 2020 NGOs and professors evaluate the overall effectiveness of the project and to The user interface that allows dissemination of information, discussion forums etc. Meeting will be held with NGO staff, where increases make adjustments where necessary. • Work with NGOs to pitch new curriculum to schools Jul 2020 in service recruitment from schools will be evaluated, To show the proposed plan and pitch to schools to add the new curriculum to their teaching and the operation of the website assessed. Student Research and data compiled and submitted to the enrolment for essay competitions and movie screenings legislative council will be evaluated according to will also be recorded. Professors will also be asked for its influence in Consultative Bill Committees, and 4 feedback, and their engagement with teachers and in debates on amending legislation and education parents will be monitored through their own reports guidelines. INNOVATIVENESS AND SUSTAINABILITY and those of teachers and parents. The performance and attendance of students in Sexuality Education Courses will be recorded and discussed. Conclusion 5 Innovativeness guidelines on how to educate students on sexuality, will Sexuality is instrumental to all persons, particularly be able to carry out this mandate on their own, and the Evaluation those whose bodies are newly experiencing development towards adulthood. Thus, education is of Our project is innovative because we will be the only society, which will be able to discuss issues relating to vital importance to the growth, safety, and legal body which is assisting children to fully actualise on sexuality in a judgement-free, respectful environment. We will primarily evaluate the project through the same security. With this project, we hope to have sexual their right (i) to sexual education, and (ii) to greater legal assessment methods which the Research Office of 6 education recognized as a right and legal reform protections. While a number of NGOs are providing We hope that by equipping educators and students the Legislative Council Secretariat utilizes to evaluate recognized as a mandate, thereby regendering gender these same services, they are provided on an individual with the tools that they need to acquire information the success of schools in following the guidelines on and sexuality. basis, and are not sufficient to comprehensively on sexuality, they will share this information with educate children on their sexuality. By allowing student their loved ones and their peers, thereby creating a engagement, and reaching out to educators, parents multiplier effect. In terms of sponsorship, this project and legislators, we will cultivate change and the is sustainable as it can generate funds to offset its 7 development of an environment where children will be operational costs through the entry fees of student able to increase their sexual comprehension. essay competitions, and movie tickets. We hope to attain additional funds from donors and sponsors such as law firms, university sponsorships, and organizations Sustainability such as the Hong Kong Jockey Club. In terms of operation of the project, we will welcome anyone able and willing to assist to join an executive team, and The sustainability of our project lies mainly in how we we will renew membership thereof annually. We will give agency to those who can benefit the most from it- also have a buddy-programme in local schools where the schools, which can recruit the services if NGOs with current student representatives will be able to pass greater ease, the students who can make use of our app on whatever skills they learnt to incumbent student to access accurate information on sexual health, the representatives, who will also be able to take over the parents and teachers, who, equipped information and operation of Sexual Health Societies. 32 Regendering Gender and Sexuality 33 ABOUT BE ENGAYGED
Problem Analysis to the relatively conservative Chinese culture as well as the absence of anti-discrimination laws in HK (as set out While there is admittedly an increasing global 3 acceptance of homosexual rights, illustrated by the below) . On top of that, it is acknowledged that there 1 triumphant legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan are many companies in Hong Kong which may not LAW FOR CHANGE earlier in 2019, it is less clear whether such a positive have implemented inclusive policies or at least policies light can be shed on the day-to-day rights currently prohibiting such discrimination; and STUDENT enjoyed by the homosexual community in Hong Kong (“HK”). Gaps in HK legislation COMPETITION 2019 The homosexuals are not fully protected by the current 2 TEAM PROJECT TITLE There is a multitude of problems faced by the legislation in HK. Indeed, homosexuals are entitled homosexual community in HK, which can be described to certain rights, for example, they can seek for legal in three broad aspects: protection if molested by their spouse or cohabitating partner4. However, as homosexual marriage is not Be EnGayged Lack of knowledge of rights: legally recognized in HK , there are certain aspects 3 4 While homosexuals may not be entitled to equal rights wherein homosexuals receive less legal protection as heterosexuals, they do enjoy some lesser-known than their heterosexual counterparts, including MEMBERS statutory rights in certain areas. Such a gap in the the process of cremation, collection of cremated ash of the deceased and organ donation whereby CHAN Wing Hei homosexual community’s understanding of their own YEUNG Cheuk Wa legal rights may, in some cases, deprive them of the HK only recognizes limited rights for individuals rights they are entitled to; engaging in alternative relationships other than CHENG Lok Yu YU Sheung Him Ambrose 5 4 heterosexual marriage . Furthermore, there is an absence of laws prohibiting discrimination on the Discrimination LI Ka Hang basis of sexual orientation. In Leung TC William Roy In spite of the growing public support for the v Secretary for Justice6, the Hong Kong Bill of Rights 1 SCHOOL homosexual community in HK , homosexuals still Ordinance (“HKBORO”) was interpreted to prohibit encounter discrimination in different aspects such as discrimination on grounds including sexual orientation. The University of Hong Kong 5 employment, education, and the provision of services. However, HKBORO’s scope is limited to governmental For example, homosexuals may encounter differential organizations and does not apply to the private or prejudicial treatment in their workplace -They may sector. The importance of anti-discrimination laws is have slimmer chances to be promoted due to their acknowledged by the homosexual community, but 2 sexual orientation . Some may be required by their certain members have expressed pessimism as to the employers to dress in a more conservative manner in likelihood of their enactment. 6 order to conceal their sexual preferences or otherwise in a manner which does not allow them to express their true self. Such discrimination may in part be attributed
7
34 Be Engayged 35 ABOUT BE ENGAYGED
Primary Goal and Objectives of Project Project Execution Overview inclusion together by unifying and projecting their • These legal comments will be pinned at the top of Our target group is employed homosexuals of 20 to voices. We aim to attract attention and support from the discussion thread. 35-year-old (early adulthood) and their employers. employers and the general public towards the need 1 Lack of Knowledge of Rights for a more inclusive and diverse working environment • If a potential non-legal issue which requires PHASE 1: Online Community for homosexuals. By ensuring equal opportunities for external support is spotted, Admins will refer the Primary Goal Employees Anonymous chats and legal blogs homosexuals in the workplace, they can comfortably matter to NGOs. To advocate general rights relevant to homosexuals explore their full potential in a harmonious in the workplace, such as the rights involved in environment, which is favorable to sustainable cases of unfair treatment, including unfair dismissal, development. 2 marriage recognition, verbal discrimination and Discrimination taxation allowance. PHASE 2: Employer Survey PHASE 1: Online Community Objectives Survey on whether LGBT-friendly policies are included in the HR Employers – Engagement in the Workplace (70%) 1. Strategy and components Employment engagement is a two-stage process: handbook of companies which have Employers 3 • The online community we propose to create 1. To encourage employers to recognize diversity in signed the Code of Practice against comprises (i) a chat room and (ii) a legal blog. the workplace. Discrimination in Employment on 2. To urge employers to provide a more inclusive the ground of Sexual Orientation • We will use Gööp, an existing platform which working environment for homosexual employees. allows people to chat online anonymously, to run Employees – Self-Empowerment (30%) the online community. 4 1. To inform 40 homosexuals of employment rights Gaps in HK Legislation that they are legally entitled to so that they are CHAT ROOM LEGAL BLOG empowered to voice out when facing unfair or PHASE 3: Online Petition • Users can join our community by inputting an invite • A number of articles relating to legal topics Petition to Law Reform Committee discriminatory treatment in the workplace. code generated by Gööp and choose to either (i) concerning homosexual rights written by student to amend ss.2, 5 & 6 of Sexual General 2. To provide non-legal channels for employees to create a new topic; or (ii) join an existing discussion. helpers will be posted on the legal blog at the Discrimination Ordinance to include public pursue when facing discriminatory treatments outset. 5 more concrete protection to in the workplace, for example, referring • Users can retain anonymity in our community by homosexuals employees to appropriate sources of advice using emojis as their representing avatars as shown • Legal developments concerning homosexual rights on communicating with colleagues or seniors in the screenshots below. will also be updated by Admins after review and in increasing inclusiveness and reducing approval by the legal panel. discrimination in the workplace. Significance of Project • Administrators of the online community (“Admins”) will go through discussion threads. If a potential • The legal issues from the forum will also be 6 The objectives should serve as the foundation to reach This project aims to specifically address the gap in legal issue related to employment is spotted, the summarized (and members’ anonymity will be the primary goal. Public engagement in advocacy of employment rights of homosexuals by approaching the Admins will reach out to the member who shared preserved) and posted onto the legal blog together rights will be the last phase, which will be done after key stakeholders in this regard: employees, employers, the relevant story to obtain further details on their with the corresponding legal comment. both employees and employers are reached out. and the general public at large. experience to compile a comprehensive document of “cases”. Goal 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals as 7 envisioned by the United Nations for 2030 is to reduce • These “cases” will then be sent to a panel of legal inequality within and among countries, which includes practitioners twice a month, who will provide legal targets to “empower and promote the social, economic comments on a case-by-case basis. and political inclusion of all”, and to “ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome”. • Upon receiving legal comments from the panel, Admins will post the legal comments in the relevant This project aims to contribute to this goal by discussion threads. advocating homosexuals’ rights in the workplace, thus promoting social and economic inclusion. We seek to empower and “EnGayge” homosexuals to strive for
36 Be Engayged 37 ABOUT BE ENGAYGED
2. Relevant stakeholders and potential project partners 4. Project monitoring plan ACTIONS • To monitor and increase the commitment Stakeholders Actions We expect the number of users of the chatroom to increase consistently as the chatroom will continue undertaken by the organizations that have pledged 1 Users • Young employed homosexuals (around 20 to 35 years old) to be promoted in later phases of this project. Our to adopt the Code (“signatory organizations”) • Young users would be quite familiar with Goop, which is a popular discussion forum partnering NGOs are also expected to and have agreed among university students in Hong Kong. Moreover, a user guide would be made to regularly promote the platform to their members. • To encourage signatory organizations to include available on the promotional materials distributed by the NGOs (Refer to part 8) explicit provisions of diversity and inclusion policies in their human resources manual Admins • Monitor the chat room Month(s) Number of Number of members 2 • Collect stories for referral to legal practitioners topics to create joining the chatroom TARGET • Write monthly legal blog posts 1 20 50 Organizations that have signed the Code Student helpers • Write monthly legal blog posts 3 75 100 (Approximately 310 companies) • Hired on a project basis 6 150 250 DURATION • Legal practitioners from the Progressive Lawyers Group (PLG) and Hong Kong Gay and Panel of legal 12 200 400 Mid-March 2020 to mid-November 2020 3 practitioners Lesbian Attorneys (HKGALA) Network have agreed to join the legal panel on a pro bono basis 1. Strategy and components • Provide legal comments on stories collected from discussion threads online 5. Comparison with existing services • Review legal blogs written by admins and student helpers STEP 1: RETRIEVE HUMAN RESOURCES POLICIES There are some similar existing online communities, We will research on the websites of the signatory such as “Hehe Secrets”. However, these communities NGOs • Boys and Girls Club Association and Rainbow of Hong Kong have agreed to provide non- organizations to retrieve their respective Human 4 are self-run and focus on socializing among 4 legal support to homosexuals upon our referral Resources policies. homosexual communities. They only provide a limited amount of support (especially on legal issues and If the Human Resources policies are not available on external assistance) and hence we aim to fill this gap via their websites, we will send an inquiry letter to ask for a our Gööp online community and accompanying legal copy of such policies (Step 3). 3. Intended outcomes Nevertheless, we understand that commencing blog and referral services. 5 SELF-EMPOWERMENT legal action is often viewed as the last resort and STEP 2: REVIEW HUMAN RESOURCES POLICIES homosexuals may feel more comfortable resolving Through our interview with Rainbow of Hong Kong, We will examine copies of the Human Resources their problems via a non-legal way. Therefore, the online we learnt that homosexuals require a spectrum of PHASE 2: Employer Survey policies provided on the signatory organizations’ community also involves referral services to the NGOs assistance in the workplace, both in terms of legal websites as to whether they have any express rules for with which we have connected in providing emotional support and non-legal assistance. Homosexuals may BACKGROUND a diverse and inclusive working environment. and workplace communication support. be misled by the general view that they are entitled to The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau has 6
less legal protection and hence fail to recognize non- issued a Code of Practice against Discrimination in STEP 3: INQUIRY UNITE PEOPLE WITH SIMILAR EXPERIENCES sexual-orientation-sensitive protection that they are Employment on the Ground of Sexual Orientation (“the If the company does not expressly guarantee or The online community also to socially connect equally entitled to, such as protection against sexual Code”), which seeks to promote equal employment promote an inclusive workplace by including specific homosexuals together as a community in terms of harassment and unfair dismissal in the workplace. opportunities among all persons regardless of their provisions in their Human Resources policies, we will legal support and emotional support. In terms of legal sexual orientation. Organizations from public and mail letters to the company to enquire their position support, we can see that most legal actions regarding 7 Therefore, one of our main goals is to improve private sectors are invited to sign up to the Code. The towards homosexual employees and provide a sample homosexual rights are actually bought about by the their legal awareness by providing comprehensive Code is by no means legal assurance as it is not legally policy. Companies may choose to adopt the sample individuals themselves. Thus, we endeavor to unite information on related legal solutions and their legal binding; in other words, merely signing up to the Code policy if they so desire. rights. One example relates to the grey areas in taxation homosexuals so that their voices could be louder and is insufficient protection to the employees of such heard by the society. Moreover, it is essential and allowance (see appendix: interview with Mr. Christian organizations. Sample Policy: We are committed to be an equal beneficial for homosexuals to receive empathy and Felton). Under Hong Kong taxation law, same sex opportunity employer. We strive to provide a diverse mental support from their counterparts so that they marriage in other countries fulfills the definition of and inclusive work culture. Workplace bullying or can be emotionally healthy. marriage in Hong Kong and homosexuals could write to any form of harassment or discrimination, including the Inland Revenue Department concerning spousal tax discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, will allowances. With enhanced legal literacy, homosexuals not be tolerated. would become more powerful in speaking out against unfair treatment.
38 Be Engayged 39 ABOUT BE ENGAYGED
STEP 4: COMPILATION OF RESULTS 3. Intended outcomes PHASE 3: Pride Parade Booth and Petition • At the booth, participants will scan a QR code, which directs them to an online petition on www. A brief report will be compiled (and published in In order to provide better protection to homosexuals change.org. Users can sign their names to the Phase 3) to show the result of the survey, which will in the workplace, it is not enough for employees to 1 BACKGROUND petition that we have created beforehand. include: become aware of their rights. Employers also have an In Phase 2, we have identified the organizations that • The number of organizations we have reached out to important role to play by providing an inclusive and have signed the Code but do not originally publish their • The petition will be directed to the Law Reform non-discriminatory working environment. This phase diversity and inclusion policies, and have not: Commission of Hong Kong (“LRC”). It aims at • The number of organizations that iterated inclusion aims at urging organizations to include homosexual- i. responded to our inquiry, or lobbying the LRC to amend the existing Sex policies in their Human Resources manual friendly policies in their Human Resources manual, and ii. expressly declared their positions towards Discrimination Ordinance (“SDO”) by expanding the to exert pressure on organizations which are reluctant 2 homosexual employees. definition of sex discrimination in ss. 2, 5 and 6 to • The number of organizations that embrace to make such policies expressly iterated. homosexual-friendly policies but do not expressly cover sexual-orientation discrimination. iterate them in their Human Resources manual We expect that this project will very likely be effective. PURPOSE • Participants can sign the petition by registering As the companies that we will contact are all • To raise public awareness on the role of employers an account on www.change.org with their email • The number of organizations that signed the Code signatories to the Code, they should hold supportive in constructing an inclusive working environment addresses. They can choose not to show their but do not have any homosexual-friendly Human or at least non-discriminatory stances towards the for homosexual employees 3 names on the petition. Resources policies. The number of organizations issue of homosexuality. Notwithstanding that our that have not replied to our enquiries. student group may not necessarily be able to bring • To gather public support in lobbying the Law • After signing, participants will be encouraged to about strong influence, we believe that given such Reform Commission of Hong Kong (“LRC”) to share the petition by posting on social media (e.g. 2. Relevant stakeholders and potential project signatory organizations’ decision to sign up to the consider amending the existing SDO by expanding Facebook) or by copying the link to the petition and partners Code, the management of the company should not the definition of sex discrimination in ss. 2, 5 and 6 tag a few others so as to more effectively motivate hold a hostile attitude towards homosexuals to begin to cover sexual-orientation discrimination 4 Stakeholder Actions others to sign the petition. with. It will also be made clear in our inquiry letters to Student • Research into the Human the companies that including a homosexual-friendly • To complement the non-legal binding Code with • A forum called “你今日聯署左未?” (“Have you helpers (x 3) Resources policies of the Human Resources policy is mutually beneficial to both legislative changes proposed by the LRC signed the petition today?”) will be created when signatory organisations to spot homosexual employees and the employers themselves. the petition is launched. It will be pinned on top those who signed the Code but A homosexual-friendly workplace can attract more TARGET of other forums. This forum may spark discussion 5 do not expressly iterate their talents from the homosexual community. In addition, LRC of the petition and encourage Gööp users who inclusion policies on the Human as commented by Mr. Marc Rubinstein, Co-Chairman have not signed the petition yet to consider the Resources manual of HKGALA, incorporating homosexual-friendly policies DURATION legislative amendment, thus show their support by explicitly is particularly beneficial for companies that Mid-November 2020 to mid-December 2020 signing the petition. • Assist in drafting serve international clients, who are in general more correspondences (e.g. open to the issue and expect companies to be more 1. Strategy and components • When sharing the petition on social media, the 6 inquiry letters and follow-up inclusive towards homosexuals. • We intend to launch the petition around November hashtag “#BeEnGayged” will be included to draw communication) 2020 at Hong Kong Pride Parade. more public attention to the petition and gather all Signatory • Provide information on their 4. Project monitoring plan related posts on social media. • The petition will release the results of the survey organizations Human Resources policies Action Time in Phase 2. Such results will also be released on • Our stand at the Pride Parade will also include • Actively evaluate the possibility Retrieve and review Human Feb – Mar 2020 our Gööp community and exhibition boards at our a photo booth; related props such as rainbow 7 of including a diverse and Resources policies of all the signatory booth at the Pride Parade. coloured boards with the hashtag printed will be inclusion policy if they initially do organizations provided for participants to take photos and add on • We will set up a booth at the Pride Parade to to their social media posts to make their posts more not have one Send around 200 inquiry letters Apr 2020 advocate the role of employers in building attractive. Response period Apr – Oct 2020 an inclusive and diverse workplace and invite participants of the Pride Parade to sign the petition. Compile results Nov 2020
If step 4 (compilation of results) is smoothly conducted, this phase will be treated as successfully completed.
40 Be Engayged 41 ABOUT BE ENGAYGED
2. Relevant stakeholders and potential project partners 3. Intended outcomes GRADUAL EFFECT The petition to amend the interpretation to sexual MULTIPLIER EFFECT Stakeholder Actions discrimination is not groundless. In fact, the US We intend to ride on the power of social media as well 1 Supreme Court is currently hearing a challenge on Hong Kong Pride Parade • Set up a booth at Hong Kong Pride Parade as the society’s focus on the homosexual community at whether “sexual discrimination” as defined in the Civil the time of the Pride Parade. Participants of the Hong • Sign the petition to the LRC Rights Act is wide enough to cover sexual-orientation Kong Pride Parade • Share the petition by posting on social media. A post should include the link to discrimination. Although the Court has not handed Social media posts with the tagging function can the petition and the hashtag “#BeEnGayged” down its decision, the argument is basically that directly draw the attention of those being tagged to • They are also encouraged to tag a few others in their posts to spread the gender is the root cause for discrimination against a the petition. Other friends or followers on social media 2 petition and invite more people to sign the petition. man who date another man, but not a woman who can also read the posts even if they are not tagged. In • Take photos at the booth and add on to the post if they wish is in a relationship with a man. However, objectively this way, the posts can help spread the petition to those speaking, we acknowledge that effects of this petition Users of the Gööp • Sign the petition to the LRC who do not join the Pride Parade, such that the petition may take a considerably long time to deliver. It is community, the public • Be more aware of the importance of constructing a friendly workplace for will not be limited only to Pride Parade participants. predicted that it may take years until it gains sufficient homosexuals support to convince the LRC to consider a change in • Show support to the homosexual community The option of being able to sign a petition anonymously 3 disclosure guidelines. Therefore, it is important that the • Promote the amendment of the SDO will be more palatable to those who have always been employer survey (Phase 2) and petition (Phase 3) cycle silently supportive on homosexual rights movement by Organizations from Phase • Promote the petition to their employees be continued until the campaign gains enough force to making it a bit more effortless for them to show their 2 with positive responses drive changes. support. For those who wish to anonymously promote Organizations from Phase • Based on the result of the petition, consider the petition through our Gööp community, they may 4. Project monitoring plan 4 2 with negative responses i. expressly stating homosexual-friendly Human Resources policies in their do so by actively participating in the discussion in the Human Resources manual forum “你今日聯署左未?” to keep the chatroom popular We will evaluate our success based on the number of ii. Implementing homosexual-friendly Human Resources policies so that it can be seen by other Gööp users easily. people who have signed the petition. The number of participants at the Hong Kong Pride Parade 2019 was Student helpers (x3) • Set up the booth Moreover, the promotion of the homosexual movement around 6,500. We aim to double the number and set • Station at the booth the explain the results of the survey in Phase 2 and the through pre-existing interpersonal relationships like the goal of the petition to get at least 13,000 signatures 5 significance of the petition family and friends is more effective and may make the within 2 months after the Hong Kong Pride Parade • Encourage participants of the Pride Parade to sign the petition issue more approachable. 2020. The target will already be met if each participant • Take photos for the participants of the Pride Parade to the Pride Parade successfully invites one other person CHANNEL AND RESPOND TO DEMANDS to sign the petition. Besides serving as a medium for people with rather conservative mindsets to rethink the issue, the petition 6 also directly puts the issue in front of the LRC by urging it to propose amendments to the existing SDO to include sexual-orientation discrimination. In fact, there has been debates that discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation is in nature sexual discrimination, as a man will be discriminated for dating another man, 7 but a woman will not be discriminated for dating a man. A petition gathers voices of many individuals and turns individual demands into collective power. The LRC is an authoritative body of opinion to push changes to existing laws. Meanwhile, the hashtag serves to remind the public that it is important to be an ally of homosexuals and to show them the support they need.
42 Be Engayged 43 PROMOTION EVALUATION
Partnering Platforms Promotion Plan Problem Solution PHASE 1 PHASE 1 1 NGOs (e.g. Rainbow of Hong Kong, Boys’ and Girls’ They have agreed to promote the Online Community to The online community may become a platform • A speech filter system would be in place to avoid users Clubs Association of Hong Kong (“BGCA”)) their existing network of homosexual community, which which links up homosexual users like a “dating- conducting unrelated discussion in the forums, or are the target users of this phase. app”. disclosing their personal information. • Regulations on the usage of the community would be Social media Put up advertisements on Facebook and Instagram clearly made known to all users before they can join to publicize the Online Community and reach out to the community. 2 potential users who may not be involved in the existing networks of the NGOs. Openly declaring oneself as a homosexual or an ally • The users’ account would not be linked to their social to homosexuals might be difficult for the potential media profile, meaning that the app operator would PHASE 2 users of the online community, especially those not be able to review the profile of the users. Promotion is not needed who are working in secondary schools/ disciplinary • Users could chat anonymously as they can choose PHASE 3 forces, where homosexuals are frequently whether to disclose their usernames or not in the 3 discriminated. forum. Thus, users could safely communicate without Social media Advertise the petition on social media by asking signers the fear of being identified. to share the petition link on social platforms with the Hashtag attached. PHASE 2 NGOs (e.g. Rainbow of Hong Kong, Boys’ and Girls’ Promote the Campaign to existing homosexual There might be limited effectiveness due to We would (i) include benefits of having a homosexual Clubs Association of Hong Kong) communities they can reach. student groups’ lack of influence towards our target inclusive working environment, and (ii) make it clear that 4 companies. we would include the names of the companies that did Hong Kong Pride Parade 2020 Set up a booth at the Pride Parade 2020 to promote the not take action in our petition. Campaign. Promotional materials such as leaflets will be PHASE 3 given out. We may also promote the petition through promotion on the Pride Parade website. Short-lived popularity for the hashtag campaign as The usage of the hashtag “#BeEnGayged” is not limited the general public may feel like they have nothing to posting pictures taken in the Pride Parade. We would 5 more to do except posting a one-line hashtag. encourage participants to include the hashtag in any homosexuals-related posts in the future. There may be a limited exposure of the petition as • Besides promoting the petition at the booth at it is easier to reach out to younger people through the Pride Parade and social media posts of the social media posts. However, it may be a bit more participants, the NGOs mentioned in the previous 6 difficult for us to promote the petition to the older section will help us promote the petition to their generation. existing members. This is effective as NGOs like BGCA have a large member base with a wide age range, including teenage homosexuals and their family and friends. • Moreover, the organizations from Phase 2 with 7 positive response could promote the petition to their employees, which include people from different social sectors, occupations, and age groups.
44 Be Engayged 45 SUSTAINABILITY PLAN PROJECT TIMELINE AND DURATION OF ACTIVITIES
2020 2021 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan We believe our Project is sustainable for three main Major Stakeholders PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3 PHASE 1 reasons: Users of online O O Prepare Content for Online Community community 1 Run Online Community Panel of legal Ripple Effect O practitioners Pass the Online Community to Rainbow HK With each phase, the impact of the project gradually NGOs (e.g. BCGA, O O PHASE 2 increases, from empowering individual employees, Rainbow of HK) Retrieve and review Human Resources 2 to encouraging employers to actively support the Signatory O O policies (Step 1 &2) homosexual community by implementing homosexual- organizations friendly policies, and eventually engaging the public’s Inquiry (Step 3) support. Period of response of inquiry (Step 3) By raising the awareness of the public concerning Continuation of Project Compilation of results of employer survey 3 homosexual rights and providing a channel for (Step 4) employees to voice out their demands, organizations After the end of one year (Jan 2021), Phase 1 of the PHASE 3 and employers can understand more about their needs project can be passed to Rainbow of Hong Kong for the and be more motivated to implement homosexual- Run Pride Parade Booth continuation of the Gööp online community. Moreover, friendly policies and eliminate unfair treatment towards Phases 2 and 3 can be passed to Queer Straight Alliance homosexuals. A homosexual-friendly workplace Run petition Hong Kong, and the survey and the petition can can enable homosexual employees to feel more 4 be repeated yearly. The next step of the survey can Final evaluation comfortable at work and increase work efficiency, and extend to reviewing the homosexual-friendly Human therefore enhance social cohesion and promote social Resources policies of another group of organizations progression. such as listed companies in HK. This project involves multiple facets of the society, APPLICATION OF BUDGET 5 and we aim to start small from reachable target of employees who can be reach out via existing support Low Operation Cost groups and NGOs, then we would reach out to employers who have actively signed up the Code. Lastly, The online community and the petition only require we hope to end with engaging the public and the Law minimum cost. As Gööp is an existing app, we do not Category Item Quantity Cost per unit Estimated Reform Commission to change existing law to provide need to set aside budget for technology maintenance. (HK$) expense (HK$) The website for the online petition is free of charge. 6 more protection to homosexuals. Moreover, all phases PHASE 1: Online community of the competition involve the same stakeholders which Management Administration fees 500 man-hours 50/man-hour 25,000 makes the project sustainable as it helps link all three phases together. Promotion Advertising fees (Instagram, FB) – – 2,500 PHASE 2: Employer survey Administration fees 100 man-hours 50/man-hour 5,000 7
REFERENCE: PHASE 3: Pride Parade booth and petition 1. Holning Lau, Charles Lau, Kelley Loper and Yiu-tung Suen (July 2018), Support in Hong Kong for Same-sex Couples’ Rights Grew Over Four Years (2013- Promotion Advertising fees (Instagram, FB) – – 2,500 2017) Over Half of People in Hong Kong Now Support Same-Sex Marriage. http://www.law.hku.hk/ccpl/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Change%20 Over%20Time%20Paper%20English%20(3%20July%20Final%20for%20Distribution).pdf.; “over half of people expressed agreement with same-sex Booth Pride Parade booth rental fees – – 10,000 marriage (50.4%)” Booth set-up expenses (including photo – – 4,000 2. Information obtained during our interview with Mr. Geoffrey Yeung (representative from Progressive Lawyers Group). 3. Stuart Heaver. (Nov, 2018). SCMP. LGBT students face so much prejudice in Hong Kong they’re afraid to reveal their sexuality. Retrieved from: https:// booth and props) www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/2175396/lgbt-students-face-so-much-prejudice-hong-kong-theyre Promotional materials 1,000 1 1,000 4. Domestic and Cohabitating Relationships Violence Ordinance (Cap. 189): ss. 3 & 3B 5. Cremation and Gardens of Remembrance Regulation (Cap. 132M): For example, For claiming possession of the deceased cremated ash, the deceased’s TOTAL: 50,000 opposite-sex spouse always have a higher priority than the same-sex cohabitee, as they can only claim as a “related person”. The same-sex, non- cohabitating spouse has no right to claim at all. 6. [2005] 3 HKLRD 657 (CFI)
46 Be Engayged 47 NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Onerousness of the Unified Screening can do to aid clients. Similarly, Prof. Simon Young, a Mechanism duty lawyer, expressed his own difficulty in looking for evidence to support his client’s claim as such evidence 1 may require local knowledge of the client’s place of There appears to be multiple issues surrounding asylum LAW FOR CHANGE origin. Former asylum seekers have further expressed seekers and refugees in Hong Kong, from crime such as concerns with the duty lawyer system. From the above, illegal employment to social exclusion as exemplified it may be seen that the USM remains an onerous STUDENT by language barriers between local Chinese and asylum system for both asylum seekers and duty lawyers due seekers. However, these issues only form the surface to a general unfamiliarity and lack of information with COMPETITION 2019 of struggles faced by asylum seekers. Asylum seekers, 2 the system. TEAM PROJECT TITLE upon obtaining refugee status, can actually be resettled in a third country instead of remaining in Hong Kong. Our proposal addresses both the issues faced by asylum Yet, due to inefficiencies with the process for making seekers and duty lawyers in regards to the USM, while ASsist – Empowerment non-refoulement claims and attaining refugee status, raising awareness of the issue with the public: many asylum seekers cannot migrate out of Hong Kong, through Exchange remaining in limbo between their country of origin 3 5 1. Information sessions on the USM for asylum and potential country of resettlement. The fact that seekers: We aim to conduct information sessions on asylum seekers remain in Hong Kong for an average MEMBERS the USM for new asylum seekers who arrive in Hong of thirteen years before being resettled gives rise to Kong such that they know what to expect when BIN AZHAR Abdullah problems regarding employment, education, and social filing the claim at the Immigration Department and welfare. Through improving asylum seekers’ experience attending the interview at the CAT office. We would 4 CHAN Jing Lin Stephanie in making non-refoulement claims, our proposal is also give information about the types of evidence targeted at the legal needs of asylum seekers. LEUNG Hoi Yan Holly useful for the USM claim such that an asylum seeker can give their duty lawyer the relevant information The current process for making a non-refoulement MAK Lai Hang if the asylum seeker does have such information. claim involves the Unified Screening Mechanism After conducting information sessions, we also (“USM”), which has been in operation in Hong Kong hope to train asylum seekers who have previously 5 SCHOOL since 2014. The USM is a process which the Immigration attended our information sessions to run their own Department uses to screen non-refoulement claims The University of Hong Kong sessions for fellow asylum seekers. by asylum seekers. Although the USM has been in operation for the past five years, the USM remains 2. Database for duty lawyers: We aim to compile a an onerous process due to administrative delays and regularly updated database containing information the complexity of the USM system itself. While duty on asylum seekers’ place of origin such that duty 6 lawyers do represent asylum seekers to the Convention lawyers have more convenient access to information Against Torture (“CAT”) Claim Office, asylum seekers in order to help asylum seekers. The database would do not receive any legal advice nor information before also contain translated information, allowing duty completing their Non-refoulement Claim Form and lawyers access to local knowledge about the asylum giving their statement at the Immigration Department. seekers’ place of origin. Upon receiving consent Asylum seekers may thus be unclear about the from relevant parties and redacting confidential 7 procedure and the evidentiary requirements necessary information, we will also incorporate submissions for a strong USM claim, dampening their own chances of previous successful USM claims on the database of attaining non-refoulement status. Simultaneously, such that less experienced duty lawyers can grasp duty lawyers also do not receive much information a better sense of how they should make their about the USM before making submissions on behalf submission. Lawyers, asylum seekers, and student of the client. As noted by Mr. Jeffrey Andrews, a social volunteers can all access and contribute to the worker from Christian Action, duty lawyers may not be database. familiar with the actual USM process and what they
48 ASsist - Empowerment through Exchange 49 NEEDS ASSESSMENT PROJECT DESCRIPTION
3. Exhibition on experiences of asylum seekers and Furthermore, while organisations such as Christian Community and Sustainability in Our The goal of our project is to streamline the USM process the USM: While the information on the database Action and LIBRE provide information to asylum seekers, Proposal for the stakeholders as much as possible, therefore we can be used by duty lawyers, the same information there is a lack of information specifically targeting the have set our objectives as: 1 on the database can also be used for an exhibition USM. Both Christian Action’s Refugee Centre and LIBRE’s Community is a strong theme in our project. Our regarding asylum seekers in Hong Kong using the guidebook provides useful information for asylum 1. To improve asylum seekers’ knowledge about the ultimate goal is to bridge stronger relations between same information on the database. We hope to raise seekers who have newly arrived in Hong Kong, including USM process, ascertained by participants attaining local communities and asylum seekers, by fostering awareness about the struggles of asylum seekers. information on access to healthcare, counselling, 80% correct in a short reflection quiz post- mutual understanding and collaboration. For asylum and social welfare. However, there is no information workshop; seekers and refugees, we hope to empower them specifically targeted towards the USM process, which by equipping them with useful tools and knowledge 2 is arguably the most important of the asylum seekers’ 2. To strengthen duty lawyers’ confidence and ability Existing Services for their application. We believe having asylum considerations upon arriving in Hong Kong. Moreover, in substantiating USM claims by 20%, ascertained seekers teach each other would also forge a sense of owing to the complexity of the USM, it is unlikely that a through a pre- and post- workshop quantitative community and collaboration among asylum seekers. Our proposal goes beyond the services currently guide on its own would provide sufficient information survey; and In better connecting duty lawyers with their clients available to asylum seekers and further incorporates and answer asylum seekers’ inquiries on the USM. By through the database, we further hope to build duty lawyers as a target audience of our services, which conducting an information session specifically on the 3. To enhance the Hong Kong general public’s links of mutual support between duty lawyers and 3 no other initiative has done before. USM, we are able to firstly give in-depth information awareness about the plight of asylum seekers their clients. For the local community, we hope to on the processes involved in the USM, information in Hong Kong by reaching 1000 people within 12 de-stigmatise attitudes towards asylum seekers and Existing organisations and services provide aid to meet which asylum seekers do not currently receive from months at our workshops determined by actual refugees by providing them with an opportunity to the daily needs of asylum seekers. Non-governmental duty lawyers or other organizations. We can even attendance. interact, support, and connect. By engaging student organisations such as Christian Action, Refugee Union, provide sample forms such that asylum seekers are translators and volunteers for managing and updating and Branches of Hope collect monetary donations and already familiar with the process and will not face In order to achieve our goal, we propose to organise 4 the database, we hope to raise awareness about the donations in kind for asylum seekers and refugees, additional stress while applying for the USM.In the three activities: an information session, a database for conflicts faced by asylum seekers in their place of origin. while providing learning opportunities and spiritual/ setting of an information session, we are also able duty lawyers, and a sharing exhibition on experiences Holding an exhibition based on the information on the religious activities such as English classes and to interact with asylum seekers and have a bilateral of asylum seekers and the USM, each corresponding to database would also raise public awareness on issues fellowship. At the same time, groups such as RUN Hong exchange of information, allowing our team to receive one of the three objectives. regarding asylum seekers, potentially creating a more Kong and a refugee football team provide recreational live feedback on which parts of the USM or the Non- empathetic and socially inclusive environment for or even therapeutic sports for asylum seekers. All refoulement Claim would need more explanation. Thus, The information session educates asylum seekers 5 asylum seekers in Hong Kong. the aforementioned organisations also build a sense by specifically targeting the USM, our proposal is able about the USM process. The inputs necessary to of belonging and community amongst the asylum to fill gaps left by organisations that currently provide organise the information session include a room hold seekers and refugees in Hong Kong while raising public informational services to asylum seekers. the information session in and teachers to educate the awareness. As there are existing mechanisms aiding asylum seekers about the USM process. For the room, asylum seekers’ daily needs, our proposal aims to Moreover, our proposal is innovative in its provision of we are planning to book a classroom in the University specifically target the legal needs of asylum seekers. services to duty lawyers, which no other organisation of Hong Kong, thus providing an accessible and safe 6 Yet, asylum seekers are still socially excluded despite has done. In building a database to be used by duty space for workshop participants. For the teachers, aforementioned organizations’ efforts to raise public lawyers, we are directly helping them solve any we propose to recruit law students. Not only will this awareness. The lack of public awareness further problems they encounter while researching on evidence give law students the opportunity to apply their legal signifies a lack of political pressure on the government to support their clients’ claims. Given the prevalence of knowledge by helping others, this will also allow them to improve upon their treatment of asylum seekers. big data as well as the convenience and affordability to engage in human rights law, thus nurturing the drive Not only does our proposal aim to raise awareness of internet services, we believe a database will be an of human rights activism in the lawyers of the future. 7 of asylum seekers’ struggles, but by reinforcing the easily accessible tool for duty lawyers. As we will also After the participants themselves have gained a clearer connection between duty lawyers and their clients, we be allowing asylum seekers to put relevant information understanding of the USM process, they can also be hope to inspire lawyers to bring further legal change on the database as well, we are in fact building a link recruited to lead the information session, empowering for asylum seekers, especially in fighting for asylum of mutual support between duty lawyers and asylum both themselves and future asylum seekers. The seekers’ basic rights. seekers. By simultaneously targeting two parties outcome of the information session would let involved in the USM process, duty lawyers and asylum participants become aware of what the USM process seekers, we believe we will be able to generate practical is and what information is needed to best present effects in increasing the success rate of USM claims.
50 ASsist - Empowerment through Exchange 51 PROJECT DESCRIPTION IMPLEMENTATION
their claim. As a result, this would fulfil the objective A Criminal - an organisation dedicated to refugees Information Sessions • Arranging technical capacity, i.e. procuring a of improving asylum seekers’ knowledge about the and asylum seekers - who hail from 80 different domain, procuring fail-safe or anti-virus software, USM process. By knowing what to expect and what countries and would provide unofficial translations for translators etc. This step can incur costs ranging Measures, estimated time required, and costs 1 is needed to increase the chances of success, asylum documents from asylum seekers’ place of origin. from 250-1000 HKD, depending on the specific seekers will be empowered to present their case in • Coordinate with relevant charities to ensure referral softwares or domains procured. However, court. Our potential project partners include volunteer The sharing exhibition is a display of the information of asylum-seekers to the information session. This translation is unlikely to incur any costs, given the law students who have learnt Street Law and asylum gathered on the database, with which we hope to is unlikely to incur any costs, given our preliminary willingness of the group ‘I Am Not a Criminal’, seekers who have been to the information session. use to raise awareness of the plight of asylum seekers enquiries with Christian Action, Justice Centre, and consisting of students from various secondary Refugee Union. in Hong Kong. The inputs required for the sharing schools, to provide volunteer translators. 2 The database is a regularly updated source of exhibition include a place to exhibit information on information for duty lawyers to conveniently access the database and asylum seekers’ stories, the exhibits • Arrange for legal expertise for the initial • Arranging for referral of asylum-seekers by relevant information that would help substantiating USM themselves. For the venue of the exhibition, a local cafe information sessions and preparation of the post- charities. As stated, this step is unlikely to incur claims. The inputs required for the database includes would be apt for exhibiting information and stories, information session quiz. This is unlikely to incur any costs. the database itself, the domain, and the volunteer where there exhibition would reach the portion of costs because of our contacts with groups providing law students who would help update the information the Hong Kong population that goes to the cafes. In such expertise, such as Street Law in the University • Liaising with the Law Society to get the Database 3 on the site. For the database, we propose to recruit addition to a simple exhibition, another venue may of Hong Kong (“HKU”) and subsequent running available to duty lawyers and provision of the volunteer computer science students who would be booked to organise an event where asylum seekers of these information sessions by asylum-seekers quantitative survey. This step is unlikely to incur help build the database. For the domain, we propose themselves may share their stories with the public, themselves. costs. to initially use a free website, such as Wix, in order to allowing the people of Hong Kong to put a face to the set the database in motion, then later switching over stories. The exhibits themselves would be sourced • Arrange for participants to aid during the • All these measures would likely take 3-6 months to a paid domain name. The law students who would from the database, in order to demonstrate how information sessions. This would be unlikely to incur before a fully-working database is up, referred to 4 regularly update the information on the site would also real information on the site allows asylum seekers any costs because of willingness on the part of asylum-seekers and used by duty lawyers. be recruited from HKU. The outcome of the database to substantiate their claims in the USM process. various HKU clubs and societies to collaborate and would be to allow asylum seekers to upload information The outcome of the sharing exhibition would be to provide volunteers. onto a database, assisting duty lawyers and future allow the public to no longer view them through a Sharing Exhibition asylum seekers in terms of the information needed to stereotypical lens, and garnering more sympathy for • Arrange for a venue and publicity of the information present their claims. As a result, this would fulfil the what asylum seekers have to go through. As a result, sessions. This would incur little cost, an estimate of 5 Measures, estimated time required, and costs objective of strengthening duty lawyers’ confidence we would fulfil the objective of enhancing the public’s not more than 500HKD per information session, as and ability in substantiating USM claims. Through the awareness about the plight of asylum seekers in Hong the venues at HKU are available for hire to students • Arranging of referrals of asylum-seekers by relevant database, the legal and asylum seeker communities Kong. Through the sharing exhibition, asylum seekers for free as part of a Centre of Development and charities. can easily access related information online, thereby will be given the opportunity to tell stories that would Resources for Students (CEDARS) programme for mitigating the issue of asylum seekers not bringing resonate with those who attend. Thus, for every person new student organisations and the costs would be • Arranging of a venue and publicity of the sharing sufficient evidence to substantiate their claim when that attends, one more person would view asylum incurred mostly for publicity. exhibition. For a simple exhibition at a cafe, it is 6 they come to Hong Kong. Our potential project partners seekers from a humanitarian view, recognising that unlikely to incur costs other than for the printing include computer science students, who would build they do try to give back to the Hong Kong people and • All these measures would likely take 2-3 months materials since some cafes have indicated their the database, students, who would help regularly causing them to no longer be prejudiced towards them. to implement and we hope to have 3 initial willingness to exhibit the information for free. For update the information on the site, asylum seekers, Our potential project partner would be a local cafe, who information sessions with the same number an event where asylum seekers share their stories, it who would contribute their stories; duty lawyers, would display the exhibits for us. subsequently held every six months. is likely that each exhibition would bring the same who would provide feedback on ways to improve costs as a single information session. 7 the database; and student volunteers from I Am Not Database • All these measures would likely to take 1-2 months to implement and we hope to have 1-2 every year. Measures, estimated time required, and costs • Arrange for participants to aid during the exhibition. • Arranging technical expertise. This step itself is As stated, this step is unlikely to incur any costs. unlikely to incur costs because of the availability of volunteers from the HKU Department of Computer Science.
52 ASsist - Empowerment through Exchange 53 MONITORING EVALUATION
To monitor this implementation and evaluate our procuring of information and data for the database The strengths of this implementation in addressing using our implemented activities, the former is beyond progress, we propose to form a working group to and organization of exhibitions. The volunteers would the problems lies in its broad implications. The the scope as its alteration is strictly an administrative monitor the implementation that would consist of also be responsible to procure and keep in check all the implementation would be such as to target not only matter for the relevant public authorities. Despite 1 the same team members. The working group would evaluation mechanisms, i.e. the quizzes and surveys. the procedural or substantive (legal) issues but the this, even though it is recognized that their complaints have two sub-groups working under them. One group Each of the four members of the working group would emotional strain as well that various affected parties cannot be addressed to the fullest of extent, these will consist of solely technical members, recruited as be responsible for management and delegation of have complained of, using the aforementioned sharing measures will address a considerable part. It might volunteers from Department of Computer Science at tasks to each of the four areas of work and assessing of experience exhibitions. Even the procedural and be a possibility that the educating experience for the HKU and probably other institutions, working to get the evaluation given. To ensure that longevity of the substantive measures are innovative as they focus affected parties is not only helpful in putting their case the database running and evaluate its subsequent project, the working group and sub-groups will be on legal literacy, empowering the affected parties as during the USM process but also enable them to better 2 progress in line with our Key Progress Indicators (KPIs). reviewed and expanded each year and competent they would be educating their peers and participating put their case to the relevant authorities, triggering a The other group would consist of general volunteer replacements are available to make sure the progress or actively in the evidential exercise by way of the possibility of changes that address the nature of the members that would be responsible for three main implementation is not hindered by members leaving. database. Both these actions would make them more USM process. tasks: organization of the information sessions, apt with the procedure itself and help mitigate the complaint that they were totally oblivious to procedure; Implementation will, however, be liable to some thus, failing to effectively put their cases. The database difficulties. Information sessions and exhibitions can 3 would provide a valuable opportunity for public encounter problems such as issues of logistics, liaising participation as well by means of using volunteer with relevant NGOs, and resources. The database translators, giving an opportunity for ordinary citizens might come across technical difficulties or problems to participate in the process and become aware of the with provision of adequate translators and making relevant issues; thus, promoting mobilization of the this medium aware in the legal sector. All these community to these issues. difficulties will continue to be threats that might 4 affect the progress of the project even after its initial However, the implementation suffers from an inherent implementation. weakness. Most of the complaints addressed the nature of the USM process, along with their respective experiences. Although the latter can be addressed 5
SUSTAINABILITY 6
The project is self-sustainable with a multiplier effect is sustainable and can leave a meaningful impact. in the long-run. To begin, our project aims to naturally Additionally, the database, once established, can be 7 sustain itself by empowering asylum seekers to spread used consistently and repeatedly in a sustainable their knowledge to other asylum seekers after joining manner. Although certain details may need to be our workshops. After being taught about the USM changed or added over time to reflect developments, process and using our database to support their cases, as well as to include analysis of newer judgements, the we hope to provide opportunities, both formal and database will always be useful as a starting point or informal, for asylum seekers to be our advocates. For act as general guidance to improve the USM process instance, a small gathering could be organised for our for asylum seekers. Volunteers, asylum seekers, and advocates to share their experiences with the USM duty lawyers can easily contribute to the database at process with other asylum seekers and interested any time even if our group is no longer managing the members of the general public. The multiplier effect platform as well. Lastly, the leveraging of institutional occurs as the newly-taught asylum seekers could then support through the incorporation of the project into spread the message forward. This ensures our project the existing mechanism for the USM process, such as
54 ASsist - Empowerment through Exchange 55 SUSTAINABILITY
through allowing duty lawyers to access the database asylum seekers, translators, student volunteers, and and providing workshops through well-established lawyers, facilitates our project to weave a sustainable non-profits like Christian Action, allows financing community propelled by diversity and commitment to 1 and resources to be well-managed and sustainable the betterment of treatment of asylum seekers in Hong in the long-term. The involvement of a range of Kong. Below, a three-year plan has been created. LAW FOR CHANGE individuals from diversified backgrounds, including STUDENT
Year Objectives Relevant KPIs COMPETITION 2019 2 1 Build the database through connecting with Complete 5 key countries or conflicts for the database, TEAM PROJECT TITLE volunteers and translators who will analyse key which are most relevant to Hong Kong asylum seekers. judgements, compile relevant information, and translate essential documents. Use internal statistics to determine the database traffic and which section(s) are the most frequently Stakeholder Generate awareness towards the database and visited for duty lawyers and asylum seekers, aiming to 6 3 workshops – this is achieved through leveraging reach 100 asylum seekers. existing institutions, including duty lawyers, law students, and related non-profits. MEMBERS IU Kwan Yuen Organise workshops led by project team or volunteer law students on the USM process, SU Lifu 4 inviting refugees or relevant professionals to share their knowledge. TSENG Tzu Min
2 Continue to incrementally develop the database, Provide opportunity for pre- and post-experience SCHOOL whilst improving user satisfaction and use. surveys to collect data on user experience on the database to improve, as well as reflection surveys for The Chinese University of Hong Kong 5 Provide opportunities for our asylum seeker the workshops to determine which areas were the advocates to run some workshops. most useful or required improvement.
Continue to generate awareness towards the Compare planned hours of work compared to actual database through more intimate and personal situation to determine whether the database is channels. sustainable. 6
3 Workshops be fully run by our asylum seeker The database should have general data on most, if advocates. not all, the countries which has had asylum seekers coming to Hong Kong. Database is up-to-date and supports a range of applications, whilst being easy-to-use and has Whether the database is being used effectively can be 7 various search functions. determined by new and returning users, the amount of web traffic, and the time spent on each page. The asylum-seeking community and relevant institutions are aware and are using the database on a regular basis.
Our activities will be held for three hours, with two The breaks reduce the attention-span issue and 10-minute breaks. This strikes the ideal balance provides opportunities for participants to socialise and between overwhelming our participants and build a stronger support network. addressing the material in sufficient depth and breadth.
56 57 PROJECT SUMMARY NEED ASSESSMENT AND GAP ANALYSIS
Our project aims to heal the generation gap in our between the conflicting but legitimate interests of Social Justice Issues Regulations Ordinance has attracted criticism from the community and safeguard the rule of law as a core different social groups. Also, with such reasoning skills, Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPCSC.4 value of Hong Kong, by helping secondary school more students could understand the rationale of the Sustainability of our community faces two social justice 1 students formulate convincing arguments in social rule of law. Hence, the rule of law in Hong Kong would issues: (i) the ignorance of voices of secondary school The conflicting arguments from the scholars and debates on public affairs within the community. be more sustainable. students in social debates, and (ii) the belief in the rule practitioners on different stances confuse our students, of law is under challenge. as they have insufficient legal knowledge to justify To achieve this goal, we will equip secondary students To help secondary students develop constitutional their own stances. If such confusion makes students with constitutional reasoning skills. We believe it reasoning skills, we will hold lectures on constitutional (i) Harmony and progress of the community would be to mindlessly follow the authority’s interpretation of would get students’ voices heard and respected by the norms, principles of constitutional interpretation and less sustainable when the generation gap between the the law, the rule of law would be in great danger. As 2 community, because constitutional reasoning does not tests for constitutional validity for students. Besides, youth and the elder is left unhealed. In Hong Kong, the students are the future leaders of Hong Kong, this issue seek to undermine the reasonableness of any of the students could further improve their skills in Legal continuing ignorance of secondary students’ voices by may erode the sustainability of Hong Kong in the long opposing views. Instead, it seeks to strike a fair balance Debate Competition. adults in social debates on public policies is worrying. run. Some commentators criticise that students should focus on “academic learning” rather than engaging If the two issues above are not addressed, other vital Our Facebook Page: in political activities because they are immature and issues related to sustainability would be unattainable. 3 cannot develop independent thoughts free from It is difficult to address other issues if different “manipulation by politicians” and thus they should generations could not reach agreements, or public not participate in social movements.1 In this sense, the interests could not be protected by the rule of law. students are being excluded from the social debates in the community. Service Gap in Our Community 4 However, secondary school students nowadays are getting more involved in social debates on various The current education system provides knowledge political issues, in light of the stagnation of the and reasoning skills that are fundamental to students’ development of democracy and political crisis in Hong personal development. Besides, there are many debate Kong. Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma notes that “one day societies providing further training on analytical skills 5 our students will have to be a part of the community in and debating skills. which they live and work” and will become tomorrow’s leaders.2 His speech clearly demonstrates that today’s However, in social debates on socio-political issues with students are stakeholders of this community. Their the elder, students will need to analyse the conflicts stakes cannot be fully represented by anyone, because between the public power, and the interests of various social groups. They need to manage the techniques students have their own ideas about their future and 6 how to realize their potentials. used by the court to address such conflicts.
If the voices of secondary students continue to The techniques are not provided by ordinary debate be ignored by adults in social debates concerning societies, nor by ordinary courses in secondary community interests, the mistrust between schools. Although the high school core subject Liberal generations may be intensified. Such mistrust will Studies leads the students to analyse the role of 7 make the community’s collective interest fail to the government and citizens in the socio-economic reflect the interest of “tomorrow’s leader”, and may participation, the focus is on the respective roles of undermine the acceptance of “sense of community” the stakeholders, not on how the balance between by secondary students. The outcome would be more different interests should be struck in specific policies.5 student participate in the radical activity, as one third of arrestees are secondary students.3 Ultimately, this will There are certain programmes specialised in providing undermine the sustainability of our community. legal knowledge and legal debating skills, but they do not introduce the techniques of court reasoning that (ii) The harmony and progress of Hong Kong would also help students develop their arguments. They will be be less sustainable, when people do not respect the examined below in “Our Approach”. rule of law. The judgement concerning the Emergency
58 Stakeholder 59 NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND GAP ANALYSIS
Our Approach a balance between different interests groups.7 Liberal Studies is a core subject in the three-year senior knowledge of the legal issues of the extradition bills, Constitutional reasoning may facilitate their secondary curriculum. ‘Rule of law and socio-political 8% of the students believe themselves to have gained To maintain a constructive role in social debates and understanding of other people’s interests in the participation’ is one of the twelve topics covered a comprehensive understanding of the human rights 1 engage in protection of the rule of law, students need disputed issue. Students’ arguments based on such in Liberal Studies. In this topic, the syllabus guides in Basic Law. 75% of the students are very interested in to make their arguments more convincing in the sense understanding will reflect the spirit of tolerance, students to discuss the roles of the government and seminars on the Basic Law and human rights. of community, which should be premised on tolerance, respect, and compromise in the community, and may, citizens in the socio-political affairs, and the importance therefore, win more respect from other members of of the rule of law in securing citizens’ socio-political Relevant stakeholders respect, and compromise. 8 the community. participation. However, the topic does not introduce 1. SECONDARY SCHOOLS constitutional reasoning which helps students to Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma regards “[t]he best method Schools that are interested in our project may promote 2 (ii) To secure the youth’s belief in the rule of law, we formulate legal arguments for their opinions. Besides, of teaching a concept like a sense of community is to the project among the students and provide classrooms should enable the students to understand why and according to our interview with a teacher of Liberal encourage the student to think for himself or herself in for us to do the lectures. order to be convinced that the concept is a worthwhile how the public power shall be held accountable by Studies, only a small fraction of time is left for this topic. the law. Therefore they should be equipped with It is impractical to introduce the legal knowledge that is one. In order to do this, the student must be provided In collaborating with our project, schools will be able constitutional reasoning skills, which inherently beyond the curriculum. with the tools and the information to allow him or her to guide students away from radical activities because 6 requires them to consider the function of public 3 to think the matter through themselves”. constitutional reasoning encourages students to power and the rights and obligations of citizens. The Rule of Law Education Project of the Faculty of Law respect the interests of other stakeholders and to of the University of Hong Kong provides seminars on In this regard, we believe that the constitutional advocate their views on how the balance should be the rule of law for secondary schools. Their seminars reasoning will be the best tool and the information to Measures taken to ensure the political neutrality struck. allow the students to develop critical and constructive of our project teach students the proportionality test adopted in constitutional review, but they only take the freedom of arguments on social issues. In Hong Kong, we have two political camps advocating 2. UNIVERSITY LAW STUDENTS opposing viewpoints of the rule of law in Hong Kong, expression as an example, students may not know how 4 to assess different stakeholders’ interests in other rights We need university law students to join us as Definition and they adopt different approaches to constitutional 9 volunteers. They could use what they have learned at reasoning. Hence, the political neutrality of our project is and freedoms. And it does not provide comprehensive Constitutional reasoning refers to a legal argument practice opportunities for students. law schools to prepare learning materials, give lectures, which involves an appeal to (i) constitutional norms, a major concern to secondary schools. and communicate with the secondary school students (ii) principles of constitutional interpretation or (iii) after the lectures. (i) The lectures and learning materials will provide Existing mooting NGOs that aim at high school tests for constitutional validity of restrictions on students focus on criminal proceedings. They do not 5 constitutional rights and freedoms. opposing viewpoints to students. We will only use Our team has surveyed the attitudes of law students official materials, such as statutes, case law, and hold mooting on constitutional law. There are also human rights debate competitions in Hong Kong, but on this project. We obtained 10 responses in total (60% (i) The constitutional norms are the provisions in the legislative records to guide students to discuss the Mainland Students and 40% Local Students). All of them rationales behind these opposing viewpoints. And the debate topics are not related to the power of the PRC Constitution, the Basic Law, the Hong Kong Bill of government or constitutional rights.11 The Faculty of express interested in sharing their legal/constitutional Rights Ordinance, and principles in the case law of Hong we would ask students to strike a balance between knowledge to the students, motivated mainly by social conflicting interests in case discussions. Law of The Chinese University of Hong Kong organised Kong. (ii) The principles of constitutional interpretation a mooting competition for high-schoolers on a connectivity (80%) and sense of duty (50%). 70% of 6 are the various approaches to interpretation adopted 12 them willing to contribute more than 2 hours per week (ii) In the Legal Debate Competition of our project, constitutional law issue in 2014, however, no new by the Standing Committee of the National People’s competition has been held after that. in teaching activities. Congress, and by the courts of Hong Kong. (iii) The tests judges, who are volunteer solicitors or barristers, will only assess students’ performance in using what they Law student volunteers will able to contribute their for constitutional validity are the tests in the case law Why would students find the knowledge of have learned to form their arguments, regardless of knowledge to the community and enrich their social of Hong Kong, such as the proportionality test in Hysan constitutional reasoning useful? Development v Town Planning Board and margin of the political spectrum. The Competition focuses on experience when they collaborate with participants and 7 appreciation in Fok Chun Wa v Hospital Authority. the width of research and the depth of reasoning. Constitutional reasoning enables the students to entities from various backgrounds. assess the weight of other stakeholders’ interests in (iii) The project’s social media will share news covered by the disputed policy. Based on the assessment, they are Why does the solution of social justice issues 3. LEGAL PRACTITIONERS mass media of different political positions. more capable of prioritising their rights and freedoms need constitutional reasoning? We need volunteer solicitors or barristers to review the when the interests of other community members are (i) To enable the youth and the elderly to effectively contents of the lectures and serve as judges at Legal How do we distinguish ourselves from other relatively minor. Debate Competitions. engage in social debates, there shall be some relevant programmes? common grounds. The Basic Law and other legal There are existing programmes providing courses on We have carried out an on-field survey study in the Volunteer solicitors and barristers would gain exposure authorities could serve as the common grounds, Western district to assess the interest of the secondary because they are widely accepted by the public. legal knowledge and facilitating discussions on the rule among the participants and stakeholders who are of law. However, the need for constitutional reasoning school students in learning legal knowledge. In total, concerned with the future of Hong Kong. is not sufficiently addressed. We have examined the we have interviewed 40 students. In summary, only 13% Besides, constitutional reasoning may be more of the students consider themselves to have sufficient convincing, because it requires students to strike programmes respectively below.
60 Stakeholder 61 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES DETAILED PROJECT PROPOSAL
Goal Stage 1: Preparation Phase Recruiting & Training Session 3. After-school case study: Students will be divided • Recruit workshop lecturer, targeting law students into groups. Each group will be assigned with a certain topic arising from the lecture. They will To enable secondary students to make convincing Survey for Secondary School Students who are highly interested in law and would like 1 arguments in social debates with other members of the to share the knowledge with secondary school have to conduct research and discuss after class. • Conduct survey of HK secondary school students community and safeguard the rule of law. students The lecturer will guide them if they encounter • Coordinate the result of the survey and assess the • Lecturers’ training session: Lecturer will have to any difficulties. Assistants will also help them on needs of the students for knowledge of law and prepare lecture notes in advance and the project research on relevant case law, related news, and constitutional rights Objectives coordinator will assist the lecturer and give advice statutory provisions. • Collect the information on knowledge of law and to him during the rehearsal 2 constitutional rights needed by students through • Recruit course helpers and conduct briefing sessions Involvement of legal students/practitioner 1 Fostering secondary school students’ basic legal legal research for helpers • Class lecturers: Law students are invited to be as knowledge and constitutional reasoning. the lecturer and assistant of the workshop. We will Survey for Middle School Teachers conduct interview with the candidates to select 2 Enable secondary school students to rationally • Question secondary school teachers’ viewpoint on suitable lecturer. connect social issues with legal knowledge. Stage 2: Implementation Phase the need to educate students with legal knowledge • Legal scholars: Occasionally, we will arrange legal 3 scholar to give talks on certain topics as they have 3 At least 75 secondary schools’ scholars can make and constitutional reasoning 1. Legal Workshop additional legal knowledge through research and arguments both for and against a public policy • Confirm the availability of the classroom as the IMPLEMENTATION TARGET experience. using constitutional reasoning that satisfies our venue for legal workshop • Pro bono lawyers: We will also invite pro assessors. • Evaluate the results of the survey and collect the To foster students’ basic legal knowledge and information about teachers’ viewpoint on the constitutional reasoning bono lawyers to give a speech of the current 4 Provide more opportunities for students to project constitutional issues and how students can 4 express their in-depth arguments on social issues TARGET PARTICIPANTS formulate their own arguments, alike lawyer. by providing online/offline platforms. Survey for Volunteers • We aim to target local students ranging from 15 to 18 years old from that have keen interests in HK CURRICULUM 5 Promote students’ legal reasoning and opinion to • Evaluate the willingness of university students constitutional rights and general legal knowledge Week 1: Introduction of Hong Kong Legal System & the the community through a wide range of channel. participating in the project as volunteers Rule of Law • Collect the information on the result of the • We propose to collaborate with 5 secondary schools • Scenario questions: prepare real-life questions to 5 questionnaire • 15 students per class trigger students’ interest • The Rule of Law in HK Facebook Page/Instagram Launching PROPOSED DATES AND SCHEDULE 5 classes, once a week , Saturday: 2 pm - 5 pm i. Purpose of ROL • Launch the project’s FB/Instagram page and ii. Common Law ROL versus Chinese ROL generate relevant posts daily to attract people’s iii. Lord Bingham’s eight principles of ROL WORKSHOP MODEL awareness of the project 6 Course Timetable • In emergency situations, we broadcasted 3 urgent Week 2: Constitutional interpretation and judicial 1. The first two hours will be conducted in lecture posts at 3 targeted universities to facilitate the review form. It aims at giving the students a general safety of all parties. • Difference between Judicial Autonomy and Judicial understanding of every week’s topic. • Contact NGOs and media group to get aware of our Interpretation Facebook Page • NPCSC’s power versus High Court’s power 2. The third hour will be either in the format of 7 i. Prior to 2047, the degree of limiting the presentation/discussion. This will be adjusted Connect with schools and other support autonomy based on every week’s content. Students will be • Interview with teachers, administration staff, engaged in the presentation of their research and Week 3: Constitutional rights in Hong Kong I: and students in school to collect information and there will be a Q&A session after the presentation. • Civil and political rights enabling citizens to pursue inquire about their specific needs from the project Alternatively, they might participate in the legal autonomy without interference, and participate in • Contact and partner with NGOs and professors to debate with other groups to practice how to public life13 gain their support and promote the project formulate their arguments using constitutional reasoning. Lastly, mooting will be another option for the students to have an experience of the legal debate. This will be tentative, subject to the availability of the venue.
62 Stakeholder 63 DETAILED PROJECT PROPOSAL
i. Freedom of expression PLAN TARGET PARTICIPANT 5. The Stakeholder Blog & Kindle Book ii. Freedom of assembly • 5 students will form a group to discuss a certain • Secondary school students IMPLEMENTATION TARGET iii. Limits on expression and assembly legal topic related to particular social issues for 20 • Public interested in the topic and our project To promote students’ legal reasoning and opinion to the 1 iv. Right to vote and the right to stand for election minutes • University students community through a wide range of channels v. Case study: HKSAR v Ng Kung Siu; Chow Ting • After group discussion, 2 representatives from each (“the Petitioner”) v Teng Yu-Yan, Anne group will make a presentation in class to elaborate PLAN TARGET PARTICIPANT (Returning Officer for the Hong Kong Island their understanding and stance of the issue • Launch Facebook page and post relevant • Secondary school students Geographical Constituency) (“Returning • Lastly, a Q&A session will be conducted in class constitutional rights posts from different political • Other social groups interested in legal topics can Officer”) & Au Nok-hin • The lecturer will provide feedback and further camps on a daily basis also gain exposure of the knowledge by browsing 2 guidance of the presentation to the students in the • Editors will generate their own neutral comments through the web Week 4: Constitutional rights in Hong Kong II: end of the class on the news • Law students • Economic, social and cultural rights enabling • Invite secondary students to be the editor and share citizens to access basic goods of life14 VENUE their viewpoint and post it on the page PLAN i. Freedom to engage in cultural activities Secondary school classrooms • Educational videos and dummies package (懶人包) • Publish law student’s articles and insights on blog ii. Right to social welfare will also be generated and posted on the Page 3 and kindle store • Right to equality and non discrimination • Class material/ other relevant resources will also be 3. The Legal Debate Competition • Invite secondary students to compose their i. All Hong Kong residents shall be equal before uploaded IMPLEMENTATION TARGET argument/opinion on the current social issue the law • Video publication of the project (approx. 3 mins) To enable students to make arguments both for and • Submit the articles to newspapers or magazines for ii. Entitlement to rights without distinction • Target: Achieve 1,000-page likes by the end of the against a public policy using constitutional reasoning publication iii. Equality before and equal protection of law first 6 months that satisfies our assessors • Submit the articles to members of the District iv. Rights of minorities • Increase media exposure by Facebook 4 Council and LegCo to reflect the view of the v. Case study: William Roy Leung v Secretary for advertisement service students Justice; QT v Director of Immigration TARGET PARTICIPANT • We will also seek to cooperate with NGOs and other • Selected secondary school students who groups on Facebook to increase our exposure Week 5: Legal Practice participated in the Legal Workshop • In urgent situations, we will launch Facebook • Barrister/ Solicitor sharing session of work • Law professors, practitioners, law students posts to facilitate the safety of all parties at target • Field trip visit to High Court/LegCo locations 5 PLAN VENUE • 4 students will be elected to represent his or her Proposed venue: Secondary school classroom, university school to participate in the competition. Stage 3: Evaluation Phase mooting hall, NGOs hall • 2 schools will compete with each other under a certain legal topic. Evaluation tools Qualitative Evaluation Quantitative Evaluation 6 OTHERS • Law professors and practitioner will be the judges 6 • Prizes for debate and mooting winner and of the competition. Student written work The quality of reasoning in the written work Number of blog articles presentation award • Law students will administer the process of the completed by the students at the end of the workshop. received per month • Refreshment: Provide some snacks and drinks competition. The work will be evaluated by our project executors / VENUE lecturers. 2. The Social Issue Discussion and Presentation 7 IMPLEMENTATION TARGET • CUHK Moot court (1st option) Feedback from legal The quality of arguments submitted by the students. N/A • Secondary school classroom To enable students to rationally connect social/legal professions in the legal issues with legal knowledge debate competition 4. Social Media Platform: Facebook Page/ Instagram Community Feedback A questionnaire will be completed by different N/A TARGET PARTICIPANT stakeholders in the community. • Selected secondary school students who IMPLEMENTATION TARGET participated in the Legal Workshop To create more opportunities for students to express Student course A pre-workshop questionnaire will be completed by the participants as the benchmark. • Lecturers their in-depth arguments on social/legal issues by evaluation A post-workshop questionnaire will be sent to the participants to evaluate their overall providing online/offline platforms feedback on the workshops. The questionnaire will comprise of both quantitative and qualitative parts.
64 Stakeholder 65 PROJECT TIMELINE AND BUDGET REFERENCE: 1. Wen Wei Po , Constant Indulgence Will Only Do Harm to Students (一味縱容只會害了學生), 31 OCT 2019, available at http://paper.wenweipo. com/2019/10/31/HS1910310035.htm; Speakout Hong Kong , Politics diffuse in the school affect the students (政治入侵校園惡化 莘莘學子受害) 25 SEP 2019, available at https://www.speakout.hk/港人觀點/49037/-秉文觀新-政治入侵校園惡化-莘莘學子受害 2. Chief Justice’s Speech at the Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools 55th Anniversary Education Colloquium 2019, 30 OCT 2019, available at https://www.hkcfa.hk/filemanager/speech/en/upload/2245/2019.10.30%20-%20Hong%20Kong%20Education%20Colloquium%202019%20 Project Timeline (Final).pdf 3. The New York Times, Hong Kong Protests: Over 1,000 Detained at a University, and a Warning From Beijing, available at https://www.nytimes. Task Duration Progress com/2019/11/18/world/asia/hong-kong-protests.html?_ga=2.245795533.858614092.1574404338-533534153.1571208228 4. South China Morning Post, ‘No other authority has right to make judgments’: China slams Hong Kong court’s ruling on anti-mask law as 1 STAGE 1: Preparation phase unconstitutional, 19 NOV 2019, available at https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3038325/hong-kong-judges-slammed-chinas-top- • Survey for Secondary School Students Sep-Oct 2019 Accomplished legislative-body 5. Liberal Studies Curriculum and Assessment Guide, 29-30, available at https://334.edb.hkedcity.net/doc/eng/curriculum/LS%20C&A%20Guide_ • Survey for Middle School Teachers updated_e.pdf • Survey for Volunteers 6. Chief Justice’s Speech, above 2, para 6. Facebook Page/Instagram/Blog Launching Oct-Nov 2019 Accomplished 7. Chief Justice’s Speech, above 2, para 20. 8. Liberal Studies Curriculum and Assessment Guide, 29-30, available at https://334.edb.hkedcity.net/doc/eng/curriculum/LS%20C&A%20Guide_ Connect with schools and NGOs Oct 2019- May 2020 Pending updated_e.pdf; Liberal Studies Curriculum and Assessment Resource Package, 36-38, available at https://ls.edb.hkedcity.net/file/C_and_A_guide/ 2 Recruiting & Training Session Jan-June 2020 Pending ENG_CARP.pdf 9. The Rule of Law Education Project (ROLE) https://www.role.hku.hk/teaching-plans STAGE 2: Implementation phase 10. Hong Kong Schools Mooting and Mock Trial Association, the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups Leadership Institute, and the Society of Legal Workshop July-Sep 2020 Pending Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention. The Social Issue Discussion & Presentation July-Sep 2020 Pending 11. Debate competitions are held by the Hong Kong Chinese Debate Association. 12. CUHK Moot Cup for High-schoolers, 19 FEB 2014, available at http://www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/english/publications/newsletter/article.aspx?articleid=58674 The Legal Debate Competition July-Sep 2020 Pending 13. Surabhi CHOPRA, LAWS6015 Principles of Constitutional Law, delivered at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. 3 Social Media Platform: Facebook Page/Instagram July-Sep 2020 Pending 14. Ibid. The Stakeholder blog & Kindle Book July-Sep 2020 Pending STAGE 3: Evaluation phase • Submission of student-written report Oct-Dec 2020 Pending • Feedback from the legal professions in the legal debate competition 4 • Community Feedback DISCLAMATION: Stakeholder is committed to political neutrality in the matters of legal/political issues. We aim to encourage the students to formulate their • Student course evaluation argument base on sophisticated legal reasoning. Our team, coming from Hong Kong, Guangdong and Taipei, do not endorse, support, or promote any political opinions or stances.
Budget 5 Item No. of units Cost per unit Expected Cost (HK$) (HK$) STAGE 1: Preparation phase Facebook promotion 30 days 20 600 Urgent broadcasting 3 broadcasts 40 120 6 Print: Helpers’ training sessions 10 10 100 STAGE 2: Implementation phase Print: Workshops posters/leaflets 75 1 75 Refreshments 25 800 20,000 Course assignment and class notes for Engagement session 75 (Classes) 30 2,250 7 Award Certification 100 1 100 Compensation 10 50 500 STAGE 3: Evaluation phase Print: Feedback surveys 40 0.5 20 TOTAL: 23,765
66 Stakeholder 67 INTRODUCTION
The Access To Justice Fellowship (A2J annually, we hope to build a strong symbiotic PIL Fellowship) aims to tackle the social, ecosystem that brings together various stakeholders. economic, and institutional barriers Currently, rather strict divisions exist in the Hong Kong 1 to access to justice in Hong Kong by legal scene - for instance, between the private and LAW FOR CHANGE offering an innovative and bottom- public legal sectors (where it appears that corporate up solution to promote and establish sustainable law and PIL are two different worlds), and between STUDENT partnerships in public interest law (PIL). lawyers and NGOs (where the relationships are often quite hierarchical). We want to bring all stakeholders COMPETITION 2019 Our proposed project is a 10-month long fellowship together, level the playing field, and ultimately create a 2 that places two law graduates with a strong legal PIL ecosystem that is mutually-beneficial and capable TEAM PROJECT TITLE background in two partnering NGOs to undertake of empowering sustainable long-term relationships quasi-legal capacity building projects. This has two that will improve the growth and development of PIL aims: first, to strengthen the NGOs’ legal capacities, in Hong Kong. Indeed, our focus on our three main Access to Justice Fellowship which will in turn benefit the communities served by stakeholders (law students/graduates interested in the NGOs; and secondly, to allow our Fellows to apply PIL, local grassroots NGOs, and the communities they 3 7 their legal background and skills in a PIL context. serve) inspired the triangular logo for the Fellowship. Ultimately, we aim for this Fellowship to develop into MEMBERS This Fellowship was specifically structured in light of a prestigious, well-recognised one that will strengthen CHAN Acacia2 this year’s themes of “community” and “sustainability” the PIL community in Hong Kong. - through this self-sustainable project which will run 2 CHAN Gee Ting Celine 4 HO George1 WONG Ho Long Jaime2 2 WONG Yik Yu Michelle PROBLEM ANALYSIS 5
SCHOOL 1 The Chinese University of Hong Kong Access to Justice in Hong Kong sectors, including two academics1, seven NGOs2 and 2 lawyers pre- and post-qualification from seven law The University of Hong Kong 3 6 The social issue the Fellowship aims to address is firms . We also conducted an online survey, which access to justice - specifically, the social, economic, and attracted responses from 50 current law students institutional barriers to access to justice in Hong Kong, and recent law graduates, to better understand their which most adversely affects the marginalised and exposure to and interest in PIL. From our research, vulnerable communities in Hong Kong. Although access there are a plethora of reasons why so many barriers to access to justice exist, but for the purposes of this to justice is guaranteed under the Basic Law and there 7 are existing channels to attain legal assistance (such project, we are focusing on two main realities and thus as the publicly-funded Legal Aid and the Duty Lawyer have targeted our energy on alleviating the pressures Service, pro bono services provided by law firms, and created by these: NGOs focusing on addressing legal needs like Justice Centre), the reality is that these are still inadequate in 1. The lack of legal expertise and capacity meeting community needs, meaning that access to within NGOs justice is often delayed or even denied. NGOs play a crucial role in providing legal support and access to justice for vulnerable communities in Hong To understand why this may be the case, our team Kong, whether in the form of liaising with lawyers, case conducted field surveys and interviews over the past management support or public policy research and three months by speaking to people across various advocacy to push for reforms in various areas of PIL,
68 69 PROBLEM ANALYSIS
because they have direct access to the communities it hard to adequately assist their clients with their lack of public interest lawyers in Hong Kong, and While it is encouraging to see that 84% of the that need such legal support. This is backed up by PILnet legal issues, and can only refer legal questions to even those providing pro bono services on behalf respondents indicated their willingness to do pro Hong Kong’s 2017 study, where PILnet interviewed 11 NGOs with more established legal support. They of commercial law firms lack the ‘on-ground’ bono work in private practice, this only emphasises 1 NGOs and found that they collectively assisted close to also do not have an efficient case management insight that can only be gained from working in the need for law students to have a strong and first- 8,000 legal cases in 2015. system to track the progress of their cases, but close partnership with the communities. Both are hand understanding of the needs of the community hopes to develop one. HKWWA acknowledged their important contributors to the barriers to access before they go into practice. Pro bono lawyers, While this is a significant number, it is on the lower inadequate capacity and/or knowledge to conduct to justice - without enough lawyers to address especially those partnering with less-resourced end when compared to the number of people who detailed research on complicated employment peoples’ legal needs, the most vulnerable will often NGOs, may receive minimal training and have to have legal needs in Hong Kong. NGOs are unable to issues, advocacy work and the significant lose out. learn the area of law from scratch. Having first-hand 2 provide more support because the current regulatory deficiencies in the procedures relating to Labour contact with the community they are serving to framework in Hong Kong prohibits NGOs from Tribunal proceedings. (b) There is a lack of opportunities for law students appreciate the big picture of the needs of the entire directly hiring qualified lawyers to give legal advice to to receive PIL training: The survey results from law community, instead of being trapped by tunnel their target groups, resulting in NGOs relying heavily (b) NGOs’ limited ability to maximize their support students revealed that while 78% of respondents vision because of the limited scope of pro bono on external legal support. Within NGOs, few staff to pro bono lawyers: The less developed legal case said that they were interested in PIL, only 28% said work they engage in, will benefit their work. More members are legally trained and qualified to deal with management systems in NGOs makes it difficult that their law schools provide enough opportunities training will also improve the quality and quantity 3 legal matters. This lack of legal expertise and capacity for them to help pro bono lawyers understand for them to explore public interest law. During our of pro bono work they do, thus improving the access have the following effects: the clients’ legal needs and situation when giving interview with Professor Ramsden of the Chinese to justice issue identified. legal advice. Another one of our potential partner University of Hong Kong (CUHK), he noted that (a) NGOs’ limited ability to use relevant legislation, NGOs, Society for Community Organisation regulatory restrictions require law schools to Comparisons: We also looked at other fellowship common law, and legal procedures to aid their (SoCO), stated that clients often approach them partner with practitioners covered by the Indemnity programmes both in HK and overseas, and found clients in solving legal problems: According to with many grievances, where the legal issues are Scheme in order to run a legal clinic. However, many that there is precedent, need, and demand for the A2J 4 PILnet’s study, the lack of internal legal expertise often unapparent. It takes manpower to conduct teaching staff are qualified overseas and are not Fellowship program. has impeded NGOs from (i) providing early legal preliminary assessments and identify legal issues, covered by this scheme, meaning that law schools assistance to prevent clients from having to go organise information, and compile them into legal can only offer very few clinical opportunities for down the route of litigation; (ii) providing suitable briefs, but that is beyond their capacity. Therefore, their students; in the case of CUHK, there are and targeted legal information to clients; (iii) the case information provided to lawyers are only 6 places for the public interest law advocacy following up on the legal advice provided by lawyers disorganised without clearly defined legal issues. course which are overwhelmed by applications. The 5 in the interim (between meetings); and (iv) handling This hinders the time it takes for lawyers to fully majority of law graduates do not have experience urgent cases (e.g. where injunction has to be sought understand the client’s case and their needs. Tiffany handling cases with lay clients in PIL before entering / there is a short time-limit for the claim). All of the Wong, an Associate at Vidler & Co., reflected that it practice. above are important aspects of access to justice. would be very helpful and efficient if the NGOs that refer cases to lawyers can submit to lawyers a clear (c) Effects of a lack of opportunities: The lack of To illustrate with an example, Hong Kong brief explaining the client’s position, a chronology of exposure and understanding in PIL practice, coupled 6 Women Workers’ Association (HKWWA) is a local, events and some basic legal research. with limited training opportunities and limited grassroots NGO based in Kwun Tong that serves career opportunities, drive students to take the and empowers female employees. HKWWA is 2. Limited opportunities for law students to commercial route. Over 90% of the respondents one of our potential partnering NGOs, and during receive training in PIL and to explore it as a of our survey observed that the majority of their our interview with them, we were told that the part of their career path peers in law school aim to go to an international 77 lack of legal knowledge and capacity is an issue (a) Reasons for a lack of PIL lawyers in HK: The legal commercial firm/commercial set. Only six applied that the NGO is facing. HKWWA handles around landscape for PIL in Hong Kong is considerably to human rights law firms, two to firms specialising 30 employment cases annually, and the staff undersaturated. With only a handful of law firms in public law and one to an NGO tackling human recognises that lay clients find it difficult to fill specialising in public interest litigation, the limited trafficking. This trend evidences a vicious cycle, out forms, understand the complicated legal allocation of resources by both the government and where few law students are trained to be public procedures for labour disputes and prepare for the corporate law firms towards PIL, and the regulatory interest lawyers to handle sophisticated or Labour Tribunal hearings. As a result of the lack of restrictions on legal practice within NGOs, the contentious public interest law cases. manpower (they only have 5 staff members) and opportunities for law students and graduates to legal expertise (no one is legally trained), they find explore PIL are limited. This inevitably results in a
70 Access to Justice Fellowships 71 GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND PROJECT PLAN
Goals 1. Lack of legal expertise and capacity within 2. Limited opportunities for law students to • Mentoring by experienced public interest lawyers: NGOs receive training in PIL and to explore it as part Fellows can build a strong and close relationship • To alleviate the pressures of unmet legal needs in Due to legal restrictions, the Fellow would not be giving of their career path with their mentors, who have a lot of experience 1 Hong Kong by building up the legal capacity of NGOs; legal advice, but there are still a number of possible The Fellowship will provide an opportunity for PIL- working in fields related to PIL. Besides providing • To provide an opportunity for law students projects that can be carried out. minded law graduates to see how PIL can actually be tips and comments to the Fellows for the purposes passionate about PIL to take a first step towards implemented in practice to serve our communities. We of the Fellowship, mentors may also provide exploring PIL in their career path; and • Fellows can provide a legal perspective to the hope that by giving young graduates an opportunity to valuable career advice. • To connect and bring together relevant stakeholders issues addressed by NGOs: The legally trained explore PIL in the early stages of their career, they can within the PIL community in Hong Kong. Fellows can spot both legal and quasi-legal issues, use the knowledge gained to drive positive impact and 2 and can navigate the legal system due to their change in public interest law-related fields in the future. Project Development and Timeline knowledge of civil and/or criminal procedures. The Objectives eligibility requirements for Fellows depend on the • Conduct legal research and undertake legal Our project consists of five stages. Stages 2-5 will be specific needs of the NGO in order to match the drafting: Develops their legal research skills and repeated for each Fellowship round. We envision for NGOs’ pressing needs with the Fellows’ skills and knowledge in that area of PIL, and allows them to • To increase access to justice in Hong Kong, the Fellowship to be an annual 10-month partnership expertise. For instance, for HKWWA, applicants hone their legal drafting skills (by writing reports, 3 especially for underserved and grassroots between the legal and NGO sectors which will should have some familiarity with civil procedure, research notes, etc.), all of which are relevant skills communities in the city, by increasing the legal continue for years to come. Therefore, we recognise the tribunal system, and employment law. needed to undertake PIL-related work. capacity of NGOs; that our project is a long-term one that continues • To promote public interest law in the careers of law beyond the one-year implementation period of the • The Fellowship is a knowledge-building process to • Ability to interact with lay clients: Exposure to students; and PILnet Competition. Nevertheless, 2020 is crucial strengthen the legal capacity of the NGOs in the clients when working in the NGOs will give them • To foster a greater understanding and awareness in the development of the Fellowship, as we will be long term: The Fellows can help build up the NGO’s first hand insights into the legal problems and 4 about the importance of PIL in Hong Kong. completing Stages 1-2, and finishing half of Stage 3. capacity in legal service provision and advocacy, and issues faced by lay clients. After working on many this is sustainable in that it will benefit the NGO cases, they will be able to synthesize the knowledge STAGE 1: INCEPTION even after the Fellowship ends. The specific tasks they’ve gained, identify the structural problems Project Plan The inception stage involves completing administrative for each Fellow will differ depending on the specific that the community is facing and know what tasks to set up the structure of the Fellowship. This needs of the NGO and the communities they serve. specific areas to look out for. This is crucial when includes starting the incorporation process, opening a The Fellowship programme entails placing two law 5 For example, Fellows can help develop an effective they engage with PIL work in the future, whether bank account, creating our website and social media graduates within five years of graduating in two case management system that will help with easier in pro bono departments of law firms, in NGOs or platforms, etc. The costs related to these tasks will partnering NGOs to carry out a project plan for identification of legal issues and organisation of otherwise, as it helps them better serve their clients. come from a mix of the seed funding from PILnet and the NGOs and the communities they serve for ten information; create pamphlets/basic toolkits with pro bono support from our networks. months. The partnering NGOs selected would be local, commonly faced legal problems and guides for legal • On the job exposure and training: Learning the grassroots NGOs that serve vulnerable communities procedures that will increase the legal knowledge law from an academic perspective and practicing STAGE 2: RESEARCH, LIAISON, AND ADMINISTRATION 6 in Hong Kong without strong legal background and/ it on the ground can be a very different experience of NGO staff members; building a database of During this stage, the A2J team will conduct stakeholder or support. The Fellow will then support the NGOs’ sometimes, so this Fellowship will allow Fellows to precedents for future reference; creating issue- research and identify potential project partners (NGOs, work with their legal knowledge and experience, while see how PIL can actually be used and implemented specific information packs for pro bono lawyers, etc. legal mentors who will provide guidance and support to gaining on-the-ground insight on the realities of public Private law firms excel in building and maintaining in practice. interest work. Fellows will also receive a monthly the Fellows, and sponsors). This stage requires drafting institutional knowledge, and such a system is often project proposals tailored to each stakeholder and stipend of HK$20,000 throughout the 10 months. • Participating in international conferences related to lacking in how NGOs deal with legal cases. Having liaising and meeting with them. Upon finalising our 77 This project addresses the two issues identified in the PIL: Fellows will be given the opportunity to attend such systems will improve the services provided by list of project partners, a Needs Assessment to identify Problem Analysis section above in the following ways: an international conference (eg. the Asia Pro Bono the NGOs to our communities in the long term. potential projects the incoming Fellow may work on Conference/the PILnet Global Forum) to increase with the NGO. • The A2J Fellowship can connect the NGOs with a their exposure to PIL and to meet and learn from The like-minded individuals. wider network of legally trained individuals: Relevant stakeholders: NGOs, communities served by NGO will not only work closely with the Fellow NGOs, legal mentors and funders placed in their NGO, but also be exposed to the A2J • Training by the A2J Fellowship program: A2J’s own team, the Fellow’s legal mentor and our Fellowship’s training programs, such as how to conduct client network. This is a wider network of financial and interviews, what an effective case management human resources support that they can turn to if system looks like, etc. will help Fellows improve their needed. soft skills.
72 Access to Justice Fellowships 73 GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND PROJECT PLAN
STAGE 3: RECRUITMENT AND REFINING OF STAGE 4: FELLOWSHIP Budget and Cost-Effectiveness will be taken to reduce costs, such as reaching out to FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM In August, the Fellow will be required to attend training. professors who are in support of our project at HKU to Having finalised our NGO partners, we will prepare Throughout the Fellowship, there will be ongoing Our budget contains two parts: (1) Administrative book rooms at the university for us for the Assessment 1 recruitment materials and the eligibility requirements meetings between project partners and the A2J team costs; and (2) Funding directly for the benefit of the Day; speaking to the relevant organisations for fee accordingly, and begin to promote the Fellowship to law to monitor the progress of the partnership. Fellows. The budget assumes that all listed matters will waivers for conference tickets, etc. The items which are students and fresh graduates via email, social media, and Meanwhile, the A2J team will commence Recruitment be necessary; however, cost-effectiveness measures negotiable have been marked with an asterisk (*). recruitment talks at the three law schools in Hong Kong. for the 2022 Fellowship.
Applications will open until January of the following Relevant stakeholders: Law students interested in PIL, 1. Proposed Budget (from seed funding): Administrative and Operational Costs (Jan 2020 - Aug 2022) 2 year, until which the 3-Stage review process will be NGOs, communities served by NGOs and legal mentors This involves the administrative costs of running the Fellowship program itself. These costs for the inaugural conducted between February to April 2021. Fellowship will be covered by the funding awarded to the winning team if we are awarded the HK$50,000. Round 1: Online applications STAGE 5: CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION Round 2: Assessment Day (group activity and panel A2J will bring together the Fellows and the project Item Cost per unit (HK$) Quantity Item Cost (HK$) interview) partners for an end of year evaluation. In August, an STAGE 1: Inception Round 3: Selection by partnering NGOs End of Year event will be held to showcase the Fellows’ General 3 projects with their NGO partners; the Event will also Printing and stationery n/a n/a 5,000 A 2nd Consultation between the Fellow, partnering serve as a networking and fundraising opportunity for Incorporation* and Finances NGO and legal mentor will be held to finalise the full- Fellows and project partners. Application for Incorporation via Incorporation Form NNC1G 170 1 170 year Project Plan. Relevant stakeholders: Law students interested in PIL, Members’ contribution – – – Relevant stakeholders: Law students interested in PIL, NGOs, communities served by NGOs, legal mentors, Business Registration (3-year certificate) Form IRBR1 3,950 1 3,950 4 NGOs, communities served by NGOs and legal mentors and funders Filing of Annual Return via Form NAR1 105 1 105 Appointment of Company Secretary (per year) 1,500 2 3,000 Website Task Time Domain 296 1 296 STAGE 1: Inception Hosting (per month) 15.5 20 310 5 1. Incorporation and s 88 status: begin incorporation process and apply for s 88 Connecting domain to Google Suite (per month) 23.4 20 468 charitable status Beginning Jan 2020 STAGE 2: Research, Liaison, and Administration 2. Create all necessary accounts and websites: email, social media, bank, etc. Printing (proposals, Needs Assessment, etc.) 0.3 500 150 STAGE 2: Research, Liaison, and Administration STAGE 3: Recruitment 1. Liaising with partnering NGOs: research and identify potential partnering NGOs, Promotion 6 conduct Needs Assessment and finalise list of NGOs. Venue booking* for Recruitment Talks (per hour) 600 3 1,800 2. Liaising with legal mentors: identify potential legal mentors, and 1st Consultation Jan - Aug 2020 Printing (posters and pamphlets for Recruitment Talks) 0.35 1,000 350 with NGOs to develop general Fellowship Plan Social media promotion (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) 50 120 6,000 3. Approaching sponsors: prepare proposals and speak to sponsors Assessment Day(s) STAGE 3: Recruitment and Refining of Fellowship Program Venue booking* (per hour) 500 6 3,000 Refreshments* 30 15 450 77 1. Promotion and outreach Printing (assessment materials) 0.3 45 14 2. Recruitment Process (Feb to Apr 2021) Sep 2020 - Apr 2021 3. Refining of Fellowship Program STAGE 4: Fellowship Check-ins with Project Partners (ongoing) STAGE 4: Fellowship Printing (assessment charts and misc. items) 0.2 100 20 Ongoing: Mentor-Fellow check-ins - bimonthly, A2J-NGO check-ins - monthly, Training - at STAGE 5: Conclusion and Evaluation least twice Aug 2021 - Jun 2022 End of Year Fundraising event Others: End of Year Report, Conference Printing (End of Year booklet) N/A 300 1,481 STAGE 5: Conclusion and Evaluation Venue booking* (per hour) 600 6 3,600 1. Evaluation and refining for Fellowship Round 2 Jun - Aug 2022 Refreshments / Catering* 150 100 15,000 2. End of Year Fundraising event Aug 2022 Token of appreciation for Mentor, NGO, Fellow* 100 10 1,000 TOTAL: 46,164
74 Access to Justice Fellowships 75 GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND PROJECT PLAN PLAN FOR MONITORING AND EVALUATION
2. Proposed Budget (from funders): Directly or the benefit of the Fellows (Aug 2021 - Jun 2022) A monitoring and evaluation plan is devised to Content of the evaluation For the A2J Fellowship to be possible, fundraising is a necessary core component of our project. continually measure the impact and effectiveness of • NGO: The NGOs will evaluate the Fellow’s the A2J Fellowship in fulfilling its goals mentioned on performance and the implementation of the year- 1 Item Cost per unit (HK$) Quantity Item Cost (HK$) page 72 above. While the goals are difficult to measure plan, and the effectiveness of the Fellow’s work to Training and Capacity Building x 2 quantitatively, we will adopt various qualitative the NGO and the community they serve. Venue booking* (per hour) 200 4 800 measures to assess the usefulness of the Fellows’ • Fellows: Fellows will be asked to evaluate the Printing 0.2 100 20 work for the NGO, how the Fellows view their learning cooperation with the NGO, their personal International Conference experience, and whether/how the Fellowship helps growth throughout the programme and the Conference Tickets * 507 2 1,014 them with their work in the future. implementation of the year-plan. 2 Flight ticket + insurance 6,000 2 12,000 A2J -NGO; and A2J-Fellow evaluation (separate) Hotel (per night x 2) 1,500 8 12,000 Structure of the evaluation Per diem (per Fellow) 1,500 2 3,000 Pre-Program Three sessions (as above): A2J team will meet with the Stipend and other subsidies NGOs and Fellows separately Fellows’ monthly stipend 20,000 20 400,000 Meetings and training workshops will be held for the 3 Reimbursements for Fellowship-related expenses (e.g. travel, 5,000 2 10,000 partnering NGOs and Fellows to finalize the year-plan Content of the evaluation printing, etc.) and manage expectations of both sides. To discuss their views on the A2J Fellowship, the Fellow’s progress, areas for improvement, etc. TOTAL: 438,834 COST PER FELLOW: 219,417 Fellow-Mentor meetings Throughout the Fellowship Structure of the evaluation 4 Bi-monthly self-arranged meetings between Fellows In addition to close communication with and general and Mentors support from the A2J admin team throughout the 10-month Fellowship program, structured evaluation Content of the evaluation mechanisms will be put into place: Through the meetings, our fellows will receive valuable guidance, and our mentors can also engage with the 5 local community in a novel and meaningful way NGO-Fellow evaluation Structure of the evaluation Three sessions: 1. Initial 2. Mid-year 3. End of Year Each session involves the NGO and Fellow (1) Post-Program completing separate evaluation forms; and (2) a 6 meeting between them The Fellow will prepare an evaluation report and presentation at the End of Year Event.
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76 Access to Justice Fellowships 77 SUSTAINABILITY PLAN
The A2J Fellowship follows a three-strand sustainability years) instead of one-off donations, as we believe continuous needs and long-term projects. Our build a strong and sustainable network of Fellows, legal model: the impact of our Fellowship requires time to tailored year-plan helps partner NGOs to identify mentors, partnering NGOs and a wealthy knowledge base that can be passed on. develop. Thus, a long term commitment from their short-term and long-term legal needs and find 1 1. Sustainability within the A2J team and funders echoes our long term goal of developing a ways for the Fellow to assist the NGO in fulfilling Fellowship model: For the Fellowship to continue sustainable PIL community. these needs. Our projected growth for the first three years is as and develop over the years, there are two aspects of follows: sustainability in the model of the A2J team. 2. Sustainability of training for PIL and Additionally, our Fellows seek to set up and develop • Year 1 - 2021 Fellowship: exploring PIL in their career: This Fellowship sustainable models that fit with the long-term legal 2 Fellows (with 2 partnering NGOs) • Year 2 - 2022 Fellowship: (a) Administrative sustainability: Firstly, the five of program fits into a law student’s exploration of PIL needs of the NGOs and that the NGOs could adopt 2 3 Fellows (with 3 partnering NGOs) us as founding members of the Fellowship will in their career path by training them in the relevant in the future. As the classic saying goes: “Give a • Year 3 - 2023 Fellowship: commit to the administration of the Fellowship skills needed to undertake PIL-related work. These man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him 5 Fellows (with 5 partnering NGOs) (including administering the Fellowship, conducting skills and experiences are transferable to other areas how to fish and you feed him for his lifetime”. We training for Fellows, and liaising with all relevant of PIL and are not limited only to working at a public believe our approach of enhancing the capacity of Specific plans we have for expansion and growth include: stakeholders) for at least the first two rounds of the interest law firm. Upon completing the Fellowship, NGOs is sustainable and efficient, and we hope 1. Market expansion in recruitment: After our Fellowship, i.e. until June 2023. During our inaugural we believe its impact can be sustained through a this ultimately reduces the amount of unmet legal 3 inaugural Fellowship, we aim to promote our Fellowship year, we will recruit Year 2 - 4 university variety of ways such as: needs within vulnerable communities. Fellowship and recruit fellows who studied overseas students and form a student society that will help but have a solid understanding of Hong Kong law with the administrative work for the 2nd round of (a) Working in existing public interest law firms: Furthermore, the network built through the and plan to work in Hong Kong post-graduation. We the Fellowship, when we as founding members will Examples include Daly & Associates, Vidler & Co, Fellowship would continue to provide a supportive hope that this will attract the best talent, and that have the experience from the 1st round to guide Patricia Ho & Associates, etc. This is the most PIL, thereby promoting access to justice for all in the the Fellows, upon completing the Fellowship, will them and allocate work to them. After the 2nd direct way to pursue PIL, but we recognise that long-term. This includes Fellows who continue to 4 serve the Hong Kong community. round of the Fellowship, we will stay as consultants opportunities are limited, and such a career may not contribute in public interest law in various playing who set the direction of each year’s Fellowship be for everyone; fields, legal mentors that developed relationships 2. Diversification of NGOs:Over time, we hope to (eg. what partnering NGOs to reach out to) while with the Fellows, and NGOs with newly-established build strong connections with existing partnering students as administrators will liaise with various (b) Joining NGOs: Utilise the legal and practical partnerships with A2J and the Fellows. By involving NGOs while connecting with new ones. Establishing parties. It is important to involve present university knowledge and skills they have learned during the various stakeholders, a vibrant community will be partnerships with a wide range of NGOs serving 5 students interested in PIL, as they can be introduced Fellowship when working in NGOs; developed to support the sustainable development various communities is our aim, because ultimately, to how law meets public interest in practice at an of PIL in Hong Kong. we hope to help improve the general legal capacity early stage of their study and be inspired to explore (c) Joining commercial firms and making positive of NGOs in Hong Kong. career options beyond corporate law. This also changes in the pro bono department: The one- adds to the building of a sustainable network by year first hand experience with our partnering Strategy for Growth and Multiplier 3. More training for Fellows: Taking inspiration from involving current students that are interested in PIL. NGOs will give the Fellows (and thus the pro bono Effect Teach For Hong Kong, a local NGO that provides 6 departments of their law firms) a deeper and weekly training to its fellows who teach in Hong Further, Fellows will also be recruited to become more genuine understanding of the needs of the After completing our inaugural Fellowship commencing Kong secondary schools, we aim to hold more part of the consultant team after the completion community. This includes (i) understanding the in August 2021, the A2J team will have more experience training (both legal and soft skills, such as of the programme. This way, the knowledge and legal, quasi-legal and structural issues faced by the in undertaking the various stages of the process negotiation and client interviewing skills) for our experience gained as a Fellow could be retained and communities they serve, (ii) the issues to look out identified above. We aim to use our insights to Fellows and to provide them with even more passed on in the A2J team. for in that particular area of PIL, and (iii) how law continuously improve the next round of fellowships, support than we do in our inaugural model. 77 firms can best address the needs of the particular and increase the number of partnering NGOs and (b) Financial sustainability: The initial budget will be community. It would also open opportunities to fellows with every round. As time passes, we aim to utilized to support the administrative cost for the introduce a more diverse range of NGOs (non- inaugural Fellowship. We will sustain our financial English based, local grassroots NGOs) to city firms, needs in the following years by seeking diverse effectively increasing access to justice for a wider sources of funding, including but not limited to range of communities. foundations, high net-worth individuals, universities REFERENCE: and the general public. By involving more sources 3. Sustainability of access to justice for the 1. Ms. Lindsay Ernst, Lecturer in Human Rights Experiential Learning and Associate Director, Centre for Comparative and Public Law, University of Hong of funding, we can minimise the reliance on a Kong, and Professor Michael Ramsden, Director of the Centre for Rights and Justice and Co-Director of the Clinic for Public Interest Advocacy, the NGOs: Our Fellowship provides partner NGOs Chinese University of Hong Kong. single donor and simultaneously raise awareness with continued support throughout the 10-month 2. Agent of Change (Social Enterprise) Ltd, Hong Kong Dignity Institute, Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association, PILnet, Society for Community about the importance of PIL amongst the public. period, as opposed to the one-off case-based pro Organisation, Chosen Power, and Teach for Hong Kong. We also aim to secure long term funding (e.g. 2/3 bono services that are not ideal for NGOs with 3. Clifford Chance, Daly & Associates, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Linklaters, Mayer Brown and Vidler & Co. Solicitors.
78 Access to Justice Fellowships 79 ABOUT PILNET
PILnet is an international non-governmental organization that creates opportunities for social change by unlocking law’s full potential. PILnet’s mission is to make law work for all. To do this, the organization engages lawyers, empowers those who serve the poor and vulnerable, and enables changes in the community, in which all lawyers can use their skills to help organized civil society become more resilient and more effective in helping the most vulnerable.
With programs in Europe, Asia, and the United States, PILnet builds networks and collaborations of public and private sector lawyers who understand how law works when it serves the interests of the privileged and then it uses that knowledge to strengthen civil society and serve the community. PILnet not only obtains high-quality, free legal assistance for civil society organizations when they urgently need it but also helps organizations to capitalize on the full range of specialized legal assistance that can be provided by corporate lawyers, including against ongoing, or even yet-to-be-determined, threats.
PILnet in Hong Kong Since the establishment of its Hong Kong office in 2013, PILnet’s work in Hong Kong has had three core themes:
• Mobilize all lawyers to use their expertise and skills to benefit NGOs and the communities they serve: PILnet actively helps law firms in Hong Kong develop their pro bono practices through supplying projects and providing capacity building training for lawyers. In 2019, PILnet also took up the coordination role of the Hong Kong Pro Bono Roundtable where knowledge exchange and development of potential pro bono collaboration take place among the legal community.
• Empower NGOs to recognize and use the full potential of law to address the needs of communities they work with and to strengthen their very own resilience: The main vehicle through which PILnet conducts this work is the Hong Kong Pro Bono Clearinghouse, a platform that connects NGOs in need of legal services with high quality, law firm- and corporate-based pro bono assistance. PILnet also hosts workshops on legal topics of interest to NGOs and social enterprises to strengthen their organizational capacity.
• Nurture the next generation of public interest lawyers by empowering law students to use the law to address social justice needs: PILnet joins with law schools to introduce students to public interest law and to raise awareness about the role of law as a tool for change.
80 III LAW FOR CHANGE STUDENT COMPETITION 2019
SUSTAINABILITY
IN JUST SOCIETIES, LAW WORKS FOR ALL
PILnet is changing the way people think about public interest law. Together with its nonprofit and private sector partners, PILnet is creating opportunities for social change by engaging the legal profession as a whole, empowering those who serve and represent the poor and vulnerable, and enabling change that is inclusive and sustainable.
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